PODIUM FINISH FOR DA CUNHA AT PHAKISA

A fighting third place in the feature race and a fourth in the opening sprint race moved Marco da Cunha (Tubular/Exa Motor Group Nissan 350Z) from seventh to sixth in the Bridgestone Production Car Championship’s round five at Phakisa Freeway in the Free State on Saturday.

Sam Racing, which runs Da Cunha’s car, was under new management in the shape of former national champion racer Grant van Schalkwyk and the team made a promising

start in Friday’s free practice with the second fastest lap of the afternoon in the final session.

Despite a fuel pump problem during Saturday’s early morning qualifying session, the 28-year-old Witbank Nissan dealer a seventh and a fifth for the starting grids of the first and third races.

He had already made up two places at the end of the first lap of the opening six-lap sprint race and was sizing up Melvill Priest’s BMW 335i when yellow flags and the safety car interrupted proceedings for two laps.  With only three laps remaining after the safety car returned to the pits, there wasn’t enough time left to mount a serious challenge for a place on the podium and Da Cunha had to settle for fourth, just a couple of car lengths behind the BMW.  Johan Fourie (Audi A4 quattro) won ahead of Michael Stephen (Audi).

With the top six finishers from race one starting the second six-lap sprint race in reverse order on the grid, Da Cunha found himself on the second row and was second at the end of the first lap behind polesitter and eventual race winner Dawie Olivier (Subaru Impreza).  The Nissan driver harassed Olivier throughout the short race until the engine oil pressure soared and he brought the car into the pits after four laps.  “It was disappointing.  We had a great chance to win our second race of the season.  We had the pace (he was just two-tenths of a second off the fastest lap set by Olivier),” said Da Cunha. 

Starting the third and final race over 12 laps from fifth on the grid, Da Cunha quickly moved up to fourth, again chasing the elusive Priest.  It was nose-to-tail stuff and the Nissan driver crossed the finish line in third place right on the BMW’s bumper.  Fourie was the winner.

Van Schalkwyk declared himself reasonably satisfied with the day’s results.  “Marco drove well and deserved better on the day.  We changed the engine between races two and three and had a very good package for the feature race.  The first four cars were within a few seconds of each other for most of the race and the difference in their lap times was just tenths of a second.

“It was great to be back and with such a committed and hard-working team.”

The next round of the championship is at Zwartkops Raceway west of Pretoria on September 11.

STORY BY BY PETER BURROUGHES COMMUNICATIONS