Team Ford Racing had a great start to their 2012 Bridgestone
Production Car campaign taking a race win and three podiums at Zwartkops
Raceway (Pretoria West) on Saturday 3 March 2012.
The team got off to a relatively calm start, using Friday’s practice sessions to fine tune the handling set-up on their Ford Focus STs. Their strategy paid off with Gary Formato qualifying second and Shaun Duminy fourth for the first race.
By the end of the eight lap sprint, Formato was third and Duminy fourth. Positions that served them well as the top six finishers were inverted for the second race grid. This placed Duminy third and Formato fourth.
Formato quickly worked his way up to a competitive second position. On the last lap however, the race leader crashed out. Formato looked set to take the victory but became entangled with a slow Class A car, losing two positions on the last corner of the race and was relegated down to third. Duminy had a solid race, staying out of trouble and claiming fourth place.
The final race of the day was a longer feature race which was rewarded with double championship points. Based on the fastest lap times from the second race, Formato started from pole position with Duminy fifth on the grid.
Formato lead from lights to flag, claiming the win. Duminy did a sterling job working his way up to second place, ensuring a Ford one-two victory for the day.
“We had a very successful strategy for the weekend. We drove two very conservative sprint races in an attempt to look after our tyres for the feature race. This worked out perfectly for us and gave us a huge edge over our competitors,” explained Duminy.
Team Ford Racing go into the second round of the championship in a position of strength.
“We are now lying first and third in the championship standings and while there is still a long way to go, this is the best possible position from which to defend our championship title,” enthused Formato.
STORY BY FORD
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