Michael Stephen in his Audi S4 will lead the field across the start/finish line in round three of the Bridgestone Production Car races here at Aldo Scribante today (April 6), having set the fastest time in an early morning qualifying session. Alongside him will be the BMW 335i of Johan Fourie – just five-thousands of second slower!
The second row will be populated by Melvill Priest in another Audi S4, while fourth place for Hennie Groenewald in the Subaru WRX STI makes it three brands in the top four positions, separated by just two-tenths of a second…
Fastest of the Class T runners was Michael van Rooyen, the lone Chevrolet Cruze clearly no worse the wear after its misfortune in Cape Town recently. Next up was Gavin Cronje in the MINI Cooper S, a result which hopefully signals the end of their reliability issues. Just three tenths of a second covered the first five runners, with four brands represented.
Port Elizabeth’s fan-friendly racetrack will host a trio of Production Car races today: two eight lap sprints and a 16-lap finale, which offers double points. Also on the billing are national championship races for Engen Volkswagen Cup, motorcycles, SA Sports and GT, and single seaters.
The Bridgestone National Race Day gets underway at 10h30, with the first of the Production Car sprints at 12h30. The second sprint is scheduled to start at 14h00 and the feature race at 16h30.
QUALIFYING RESULTS
Class A:
1. Michael Stephen (Audi S4)
2. Johan Fourie (BMW 335i)
3. Melvill Priest (Audi S4)
4. Hennie Groenewald (Subaru WRX STI)
5. Tschops Sipuka (Audi S4)
6. Etienne van der Linde (BMW 335i)
7. Gennaro Bonafede (Audi S4)
8. Richard Pinard (Subaru WRX STI)
Class T:
1. Michael van Rooyen (Chevrolet Cruze)
2. Gavin Cronje (MINI Cooper S)
3. Jacques Joubert (VW Golf GTI)
4. Graeme Nathan (VW Golf GTI)
5. Devin Robertson (Renault Megane)
6. Lee Thompson (MINI Cooper S)
7. Gary Formato (Ford Focus ST Ecoboost)
8. Shaun Duminy (Ford Focus ST Ecoboost)
