LEEROY POULTER: KING OF KILLARNEY

For the second race meeting in a row former national production car champion Leeroy Poulter (Nissan Dealer Team GP Windscreens Nissan 350Z) showed his class to the rest of the field in round three of the Bridgestone SA Production Car Championship at Killarney in Cape Town on Saturday.

After setting the early pace in practice at the picturesque Western Cape circuit on Friday, Poulter qualified the SAM Racing Nissan on pole for race one ahead of former champion Anthony Taylor (BMW 330i) and Michael Stephen (Audi A4 quattro). He led the 8-lap sprint from green lights to chequered flag, finishing 0.87s ahead of Taylor and 1,75s in front of Stephen.

Nissan Dealer Team-mate Marco da Cunha, after qualifying just three tenths of a second slower than Poulter in fourth place on the grid, brought the Tubular Nissan 350Z home in fourth place ahead of a fast charging Melvill Priest (Audi). The former Formula GTi and SA drivers’ champion did well to hold off the challenge of reigning class A champion Johan Fourie (Audi) for much of the race, until Fourie dropped out on lap six with a damaged engine.

For the first time the entire class A field was reversed on the grid for race two, resulting in Poulter starting from the back of the field and Da Cunha from sixth place. Poulter and Taylor banged wheels in the opening lap, affecting the balance of the Nissan’s wheels and the car’s handling. Despite this, Poulter was able to stay with a midfield battle for fourth place behind the slower Subaru of Dawie Olivier and finished seventh behind team-mate Da Cunha at the end of the 10 laps.

Poulter finished second overall for the day in the two closely-contested races behind championship leader Taylor and ahead of Nissan Dealer team-mate Da Cunha. Top points scorer for the day, Poulter improved his championship position from fifth to third and is now seven points behind Fourie and 20 behind Taylor.

Poulter: “We had good pace all weekend and no problem winning race one from pole position. The reverse grid sort of settles the race two result right from the start, so for me there wasn’t much opportunity other than to hang in there and pick up places where I could.”

Da Cunha: “I enjoyed the battle with Johan in race one and was pleased to keep him behind me. Third overall for the day was a good result for us.”

Lee Philips, SAM Racing and Nissan Dealer Team principal: “Both drivers did the team proud today. Pole position, a win and second and third overall for the day is a great reward for the whole team’s hard work.”