- Bridgestone Production Car Class A Championship
- Round 2 Preview
- Killarney, Cape Town, 16 March 2013
TEAM AFROX BMW TARGET MORE RACE WINS IN CAPE TOWN
Former champion Johan Fourie has found a new home and celebrated in winning style in the opening round of the 2013 Bridgestone Production Car Championship at Kyalami three weeks ago.
Now Team Afrox BMW‘s new signing is hoping to repeat the feat in front of his home crowd in the BMW 335i M Performance Parts. Standing in his way will be team-mate and former class A champion Etienne van der Linde, who did not have an entirely happy outing on his home circuit in Gauteng.
His weekend started well enough with the fastest lap time in qualifying, but disaster quickly struck in the new-for-2013 Superpole, contested by the top three qualifiers, when he crashed the BMW into a tyre wall on his timed lap.
The team was forced to substitute the car with the older model BMW 335i and Van der Linde did quite well to claim a third, fourth and fifth in the three races and score valuable championship points.
Fourie was also not without his share of misfortune, crashing out of the first race after a burst water pipe caused him to slide off the circuit.
“Our focus has been on rebuilding Etienne’s car after the Kyalami crash,” said race engineer Freddie Pretorius. “There was heavy bodywork damage, but luckily the main structure was OK. However, this has left us little time for development.
“Johan’s car has a new engine and gearbox for Cape Town. We had two quick cars at the start of the Kyalami weekend, so we’re confident we’ll be able to run at the sharp end of the field.”
Etienne van der Linde: “I’ll be glad to get back into my regular car. The development work we did before the Kyalami round paid off and the car was really quick. ADF Motorsport have been burning the midnight oil to get my car rebuilt and ready in time for this weekend and the best way to thank them for a their efforts will be with a strong performance.”
Johan Fourie: “Winning the feature race at Kyalami was a great way to start my new career with BMW. I loved the car and I can’t wait to show it off to my fans back home at Killarney. This is, of course, my favourite circuit and I’ll be doing my best to score some more wins.“
In addition to principal sponsor Afrox, the team enjoys backing from BMW M Performance Parts, EPS Courier Services, Castrol, Akrapovic Exhaust Systems and new partners Pirtek and BrakeQuip.
