Friday, August 17, 2012

FOUR Audi S4 quattro racers ready for Zwartkops challenge in SA


Press Release from Audi South Africa 

WITH six rounds of the Bridgestone Production Car championship for 2012 already completed, things are getting serious in the chase for points. Round seven of the WesBank Super Series sees the Audi S4 quattro racers return to Zwartkops for a third time this year with a promise of a hard-fought battle ahead.

In Class A the defending champion, Michael Stephen (A1 – Engen Xtreme), is proving the most successful at collecting points with a lead of 19 over his nearest rival. This also makes him the leading competitor in the Audi S4 quattro camp – and also the racer most likely to feel the most pressure from the competition.

Stephen is hard at work on his challenge to claim a second championship title and the Zwartkops round will be a key part of his campaign. Integral to this campaign is making use of the superior roadholding offered by the Audi S4's quattro system to handle the tight corners that feature at this circuit.

For Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sport Medicine) the Zwartkops event presents an opportunity to close the points gap to the leading competitors just that little bit more. Priest has been working hard this season on the development of his Audi S4 quattro and has been steadily climbing the ladder to where he is now currently sitting in fifth place.

A big part of Priest's focus at Zwartkops will be on turning good laptimes into goo finishing results – something he has been working on and which he is optimistic will become a reality when the production car field take to the track.

The third of the Audi S4 quattro race cars will see Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme) in the thick of the action at the seventh round of national competition in this series. Sipuka claimed a second place finish, just behind the defending champion, at Phakisa and this is a result he is both looking to replicate and to build on.

For Sipuka the Zwartkops event is going to be a very busy day of racing as he fights for points and attempts to assist his teammate. With just a few rounds left in the 2012 championship season, there are very limited numbers of points available – and the more points Sipuka can score, the tougher it is going to be for the other teams to close the gap to his teammate.

Racer Gennaro Bonafede will take to the Zwartkops circuit in a fourth Audi S4 quattro – his first race meeting in class A of the Bridgestone Production Car series. Bonafede has indicated that the remainder of the 2012 season will be about testing and learning in the car, in preparation for a full onslaught from the 2013 championship season.

Bonafede has proved himself a skilful racer in many national categories of motorsport and it is expected that he will adapt quickly to this new challenge and be found amongst the frontrunners.

The action at Zwartkops promises to be very interesting, with plenty of action on track for motorsport fans. The trio of Audi S4 quattros will be right in the middle of the racing action and proving the motorsport pedigree of the Audi brand.

Audi South Africa

Photos by www.motorpics.co.za and Steve Wicks

More information:
Bridgestone Production Cars FB page


Michael Stephen A1 - Audi S4 - Terry Moss Racing 
Tschops Sipuka A2 - Audi S4 - Terry Moss Racing 
Melvill Priest A7 - Audi S4 - VMP Motorsport
Gennaro Bonafede A32 - Audi S4 - Ferodo Racing Team / VMP Motorsport 

No comments:

Post a Comment

//PART 2