Morris, who contests the tin-top series in one of the Kaye-Eddie equipe’s BMW 330i entries, survived two robust, panel-crunching races with respective fourth- and seventh places behind his name.
“In terms of straight results that should disappoint me, but the weekend gave us various indications that we can take on the works BMW team with success during the rest of the season.”
“That apart, I had brilliant fun throughout the weekend and I think that our formula put up an excellent show in front of a tremendously enthusiastic crowd -–which is what this motorsport business is all about,” Morris said.
The Kaye-Eddie team’s Morris and local driver Reghardt Roets were extremely upbeat at Zwartkops, following Friday morning’s practice sessions.
Both drivers managed to match the times of the factory-assisted Castrol BMW squad, and they were confident about claiming front row grid positions during Friday afternoon’s Official Qualifying session.
“It did not work out that way – we had set the cars up on old tyres, and fitting new rubber for Qualifying made my car difficult to drive. I ended up less than a second slower than pole position man Anthony Taylor – but on the third row of the grid,” Morris said.
The youngster made good progress in the opening race, dodging various crashes, and finally passing Castrol BMW driver Etienne van der Linde on the final lap to take the fourth place.
In the second race, Morris got stuck behind the Alfa Romeo 156 GTA of Martin Steyn for a number of laps.
“The Alfa was handling badly, but it is incredibly fast in the straight bits, and I only got by when it developed mechanical problems.”
“Then I set after the front bunch, but outbraked myself into the Zwartkops hairpin, and finally finished seventh.”
“On the other hand, I kept my car undamaged – which is more than most of the Class A drivers can say – and that means that we can go testing before the next meeting of the year, at AA Kyalami on August 30,” Morris said.
He expressed his delight with the fact that last Saturday’s second race saw a historical first victory for the Mercedes-Benz C320 of Leeroy Poulter.
“That is what Production Car racing needs – cars from various manufacturers fighting at the front end. I could see the Zwartkops spectators on their feet and cheering, which was great – without them, there would be no motorsport.”
“We now have a definite agenda for the next race – I want to stand on the podium at least, and I want to win a race.”
“Various people – including Castrol BMW team manager Hennie van der Linde – think that I should be able to do that. I would be extremely happy to prove them correct, next time out,” the young driver concluded.
