Riyad Jaffer, driving the SASOL Toyota RunX, overcame a crash in practice and a lowly grid position to post two runner-up finishes in class B in the fourth round of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship at Zwartkops Raceway west of Pretoria on Saturday.
Team-mate Dave Compton, a winner in the previous round in Port Elizabeth a month ago, had a tough day and had to be content with a distant third in race one and sixth in race two. The former class B champion, who is also contesting the Sasol SA Rally Championship in a class A5 Toyota Yaris backed by Sasol, struggled with overheating problems in both races.
Rod Hering, team principal of Race Prep, who are responsible for both the racing and rally programmes for the Sasol Toyota team, was both happy and unhappy. “I’m pleased Riyad got his act together after trying too hard too soon in practice on Friday. He damaged the Toyota after hitting a tyre wall when he was a bit too enthusiastic on cold tyres and a dusty circuit. He struggled in qualifying, where he set the fifth fastest time, and all credit to him for knuckling down and getting the most from his car in the two races.
“We have some issues with Dave’s car and we will have to attend to these before the next race.”
Tschops Sipuka, at the wheel of the Sasol Nissan 350Z, provided the highlight of a tough day for the official Nissan Motorsport team by taking third overall and in class A in the first 15-lap race
A promising performance by the Sasol Nissan 350Zs of Sipuka and team-mate Leeroy Poulter in official practice on Friday did not produce the expected results in qualifying or in Saturday’s races.
Sipuka qualified third ahead of Poulter for the opening race and they finished in that order, unable to make any impression on the BMWs of Anthony Taylor and Etienne van der Linde, first and second on the grid and also at the finish.
Both drivers were involved in incidents in race two which robbed them of any chance of a better result, Sipuka finishing fifth and Poulter seventh.
Glyn Hall, general manager of Nissan Motorsport paid tribute to Sipuka’s efforts. “Although our overall results for the day were well below our expectations following our good performance in Friday’s practice sessions, Tschops did a great job. He qualified well and could have come away with two podium finishes. We had problems with the brakes on Leeroy’s car in qualifying and in race one.”
The fifth round of the championship is at East London on June 7.
