Etienne van der Linde won the first nine-lapper at a canter here at Zwartkops Raceway today to end a long drought (by his standards) and reignite his 2013 Bridgestone Production Car hopes. He made the most of his pole position to stay out of the mayhem which happened behind him, and which eliminated the Audi S4 of Gennaro Bonafede and also sent Johan Fourie to the pits for emergency repairs.
“It was the concertina effect,” said the lanky Bonafede. “It looked like Hennie [Groenewald] moved over and Johan braked really hard. I was full taps and ran into the back of him…”
Melvill Priest, who started fourth, found himself promoted up the order and dicing with Groenewald for second. That ended in further drama, and ultimately allowed Michael Stephen – the Audi-mounted reigning champ – to suddenly find himself in a surprise second, having started sixth! His team mate, Tschops Sipuka, ended fourth some way adrift of Priest, easily passing the Subaru of Groenewald – who was using his team mate’s Richard Pinard’s engine having blown his own in qualifying – limping around with his bodywork awry to finish fifth.
In class T Lee Thompson made it look pretty easy as he steadily opened a gap on the opposition, his cause aided by Graeme Nathan making a rare mistake and falling off the track on the final turn while contesting the lead. That promoted Jacques Joubert to second and Gary Formato to third – though Nathan was eventually able to work his way back into second.
Gavin Cronje was fifth, his gearbox preventing him from mounting an attack on those ahead and only just enabling him to stay ahead of those behind.
The second sprint was a series of non-stop incidents and accidents, resulting in a red flag after a first lap incident in class T which eliminated Devin Robertson and Niyaaz Modack.
The restart saw a three-way battle amongst the Audis, with Stephen gaining the upper hand over Sipuka, who started from pole on the inverted grid, and Priest, who started second. Van der Linde showed great pace to work his way up to third, leaving Sipuka to fend off Johan Fourie, a task achieved in robust style.
There was more drama in class T thanks to a confused start, followed by an incident between Nathan and Thompson, the latter forced off the road and damaging his intercooler in the process. Cronje upheld Mini honours after seeing off Michael van Rooyen’s Chevrolet Cruze – which started first in class.
Further back a battle ensued between old rivals Formato and Nathan, the latter emerging on top to claim second place for VW, Van Rooyen managing to remain ahead of Waberski.
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