MAIDEN WIN FOR DA CUNHA

+ Click to Enlarge NO TEAM ORDERS HERE: Leeroy Poulter (Nissan 350Z) goes round the outside of team mate Marco da Cunha on the first conrer of the second Production Car sprint race. Image: Tracksidepics

March 15, 2010
By Peter Burroughes

Three races, three winners. If the second round of the series is anything to go by the new SA Production Car format for the 2010 season is certainly going to shake things up.

The new twin-turbo BMW 335i's set the pace in qualifying with Melvill Priest on pole but the top five were within a second. Priest and team mate Anthony Taylor, championship leader after the first round at Kyalami, were first and second in the first race with Michael Stephen (Audi) third.

Leeroy Poulter (Nissan 350Z) held off a challenge from Stephen in the opening laps of the first race and was fourth behind Johan Fourie's Audi until the Audi driver overtook them both under a yellow flag on lap three.

Poulter finished fifth but was elevated to fourth after Stephen was penalised two places for rules infringement. Marco da Cunha in the second Nissan 350Z came home sixth, 0.3sec behind his team mate.

A partly inverted grid for Race 2 (the first six across the line in Race 1 start the next race in reverse order), put Da Cunha on pole with Poulter alongside.

Poulter went round the outside of his team mate into the first corner but two laps later was demoted to fourth after Fourie hit Da Cunha, who in turn punted Poulter off the circuit.

Da Cunha went on to take his maiden Production Car win by 0.7sec from Stephen with Poulter recovering to finish third.

A change of engines between the second sprint race and the feature worked wonders for Fourie, who romped away to get his season back on track with a lights-to-flag win, chased home by Priest, Poulter and Taylor.

Poulter started the feature race fourth and got past Taylor's BMW on the first lap to hold third until the end, finishing 3.7sec behind race winner Fourie and 0.6sec behind second-placed Priest.

Da Cunha notched up another sixth after a tyre started delaminating – he finished the 10 laps with no tread at all on that wheel.

CLASS T

The pressure-fed class also produced three different winners - and a major surprise. Reigning champion Gary Formato (Ford Focus) took the first sprint ahead of youngster Gennaro Bonafede (VW Golf GTi) and Shaun Duminy in another Focus.

The inverted grid, however, helped newcomer Niyaaz Modack (VW Golf GTi) to take a surprise win ahead of Bonafede and Shaun Duminy in the second race.

Order was then restored when former champion Graeme Nathan (VW Golf GTi), who missed Race 2 after a rush of blood put him out of action in the opening sprint, dominated the feature race.

After repairs to a damaged steering, legacy of his Race 1 mishap, Nathan simply disappeared into the distance. The impressive Bonafede, who has thrown a spanner in the Class T works in 2010, picked up his third second place of the day after a little early resistance from Formato, who settled for third.