Bridgestone BMW Club Racing Series – Round 3 – Zwartkops – 2017-04-08 – Race Report

A hot autumn day in Pretoria set the scene for hot action and blistering pace in the third round of the 2017 Bridgestone BMW Club Racing Series.

A strong field of 28 entries took to the Zwartkops Raceway on Saturday, April the 8th to do battle in the popular single-manufacturer series on the Inland Championship roster.

Qualifying

The Zwartkops round saw three new names for the 2017 season taking the top spots in Class A+. Zimbabwe’s Darren Winterboer (Barons Motor Spares F30 335i) took pole position by just clipping Gianni Giannoccaro (G&H Transport/Itre Cugini Logi 1M GT).

Heading up the second row was Adrian Dalton (Xtra Shoes & Clothing CLS) ahead of the first of the Class A campaigners and reigning champion Julian Fameliaris (Tower Crane Services, Lube-Net E36 328i Turbo). Lorenzo Gualtieri (Savspeed/Powermods/L&R Auto Electric E36 328i Turbo) slotted into fifth place on the grid ahead of Stefano Martinelli (Dalucon Insulated Panels E36 328i Turbo) making his return after missing Round 2 at Red Star Raceway.

This sure promised for some fast paced racing out front with the faster cars joining the grid for this round of the championship.

Race 1

As the lights went out it was Winterboer that made a good start taking an early lead and being chased down by Giannoccaro and Dalton. However, the first part of the race was overshadowed by the Class C carnage in the middle of the pack. First to have his race brought to an end was Bengt Steenberg (E46 335i) running off into the kitty litter in Turn 4. Antonie Marx (Atomic Oil E46 M3) ran wide into Turn 5 resulting in a costly kitty-litter detour. Tyron Dawson’s (E36 M3) race came to a halt after Turn 2 resulting in the safety car being deployed to allow the marshals to clear the cars to safety.

With the action resuming a lap later it was once again Winterboer quickest out of the blocks, but this time Giannoccaro was not going to let him get away. Coming through 3 Giannoccaro pulled up alongside Winterboer with both charging towards turn 4. Holding his line, Giannoccaro passed Winterboer on the inside of 4 only to slow down suddenly running up the hill and handing the lead back to Winterboer. Dalton shot past Giannoccaro who suffered terminal mechanical problems which brought his race and day to a halt a few laps later on Lap 8. Winterboer made it look relatively easy at the front, but when the leader encountered traffic Dalton had the opportunity to close up. Dalton also didn’t have the easiest time in dealing with the backmarkers though with the pair maintaining position and Winterboer taking the Race 1 and Class A+ victory.

Gualtieri had a fairly comfortable latter part of the race on his way to third position after initially having to fend off Julian after trying his best to challenge Dalton. Julian however had his own position to protect against the ever-persistent Martinelli. Jorge Estrala (Jadecon E36 328i Turbo) took sixth place in the race following a close on-track battle with Class B winner Paulo Loureiro (Combined Racing/CPW E36 M3 GTS) and just winning the drag race to the finishing line.

Behind them it was Riaan Woest (Viking Mining Solutions E46 M3 GTR) finishing in a comfortable eighth overall and second in class in front of season newcomer but old series friend Paul Munro (Ascona Trading E46 M3). Munro however had his hands full fending off the hard charging Rick Loureiro (Combined Racing/CPW E30 3,2 CSL) in the early part of the race.

Further back it was a low flying Philip Smit (Hi-Q E46 M3) who took a comfortable Class C win. At a stage he however had a good battle on his hands with class B’s Carlo Garbini (Kimbo Coffee E46 330i) which got the better of him eventually. Behind him it was Len-Henry Gobey (Lesavert E36 M3) finishing in second. This only after Gobey had to fend off a motivated Marx who made a great comeback after his first-lap off and with some help of the safety car backing up the field.

Class D looked set for a thrilling battle between this season’s regular protagonists Jan Eversteyn (Mammoet Racing E36 328i) and current overall championship leader Shane Grobler (Mayfair Gearbox E36 328i). Eversteyn drew first blood in qualifying putting his car on the grid in front of Grobler. To add insult to injury Eversteyn took an early lead in class D with Grobler hot on his tail. But it was Grobler who came out on top in the on-track dual between the two after a brilliant pass on the inside of Turn 1. A surprising great performance saw season newcomer Oz Biagioni (Bio Pool Maintenance E46 M3) finish in third in Class D.

Race 2

The inverted grid by class this series has become known for would ensure sparks flying in the second race of the day as the top finishers had their work cut out for them to get to the front again. This time round it would be Dalton making a good start and taking an early lead. But as the pack took to the fast section through 4 leading up the hill to Turn 5 Winterboer took the lead once again. Lap 2 would see the fastest racing lap on the day by Winterboer with a 01:04.565 and opening a gap to Dalton which he maintained to the finishing line.

Further back there was action aplenty in Class C with Marx and Smit trying to get through the pack as quickly as possible resulting in Trevor Long (Roof Surgeon E36 M3) sustaining damage to the back of his car following contact with Gobey in Turn 2. This forced both Long and Gobey to retire although the latter did try to make a valiant effort to bring the car back to the pits prior to retiring on the outside of Turn 4. The havoc in Turn 2 also resulted in some of the Class D guys getting past some of the Class C pack of contenders.

While Winterboer and Dalton continued to pull away at the front things heated up in the Class A battle behind them. Dino Fameliaris (E36 M3 Turbo) had to make up for his misfortune in Race 1 when he was forced into retirement following a puncture. Gualtieri pushed hard and took third place on Lap 3, but as the pair got into the backmarkers it was Dino who had the better run and used this to relegate Gualtieri back to fourth place. Martinelli was having a consistent race behind the pair and might have thought about making a move on Gualtieri as well, but he also had to deal with backmarkers who were more interested in their own battles. Estrela again rounded off the top-six.

Class B again went to a brilliantly performing Paulo Loureiro. The battle for second place however saw Riaan Woest first getting past the rest of the pack that got caught up in the incident in Turn 2. He put in consistently fast laps to catch the fighting pair of Paul Munro and Carlo Garbini to pass them in the dying stages of the race. After a great start Rick Loureiro saw his chances of a great result fly out the window when a heart stopping spin coming into turn 2 sent him into the kitty litter. Even though he recovered quickly he had to wait for all the cars to pass before he could safely enter the track again.

Following the opening lap shenanigans Marx took the Class C lead and held onto it for the remainder of the race – even mixing things up with the Class B field on his way to victory. Smit pushed hard to keep in touch but had to settle for second place ahead of Shane Grobler who celebrated his Class C promotion with a podium after breaking out of Class D in the race.

This time Eversteyn had an outright win in Class D with Mike Grobler (Mayfair Gearbox E36 328i) beating Oz Biagioni to second place in another great battle for position. But this, only after they had to chase down fourth paced man Troy Cochran (Arrow Automotive E46 325ti) who seemed to have gotten away cleanly from the Turn 2 incident. Also in the mix of the Class D battle was Willie Erasmus (Big Boss Auto E36 M3) who missed Race 1 due to mechanical issues and set him to start from the back of the grid with Bengt Stenberg. Unfortunately for Erasmus he was forced once again into retire after Lap 7 due to some more mechanical issues.

In the overall classification for the day it was Winterboer who convincingly took the Class A+ honours ahead of Dalton and Giannoccaro. The fight proved victorious for Gualtieri in Class A with Martinelli in second ahead of the consistent Estrela. Two wins sealed the deal for Loureiro in Class B with Woest and Munro rounding out the podium. Smit took Class C ahead of Marx and Shane Grobler who got bumped up a class. Eversteyn took a relatively easy win in Class D and also the lead in the overall championship. Biagioni’s two podiums and consistent lap times resulted in him bagging second place and the Driver of the Day award. Mike Grobler finished third overall in Class D for the day.

The next round will see the Bridgestone BMW Club Racing Series visit the friendly town of Welkom in the Free State at the popular Phakisa Freeway on 13 May 2017 for round 4 of the championship. With the competition heating up one can expect the racing to be fast and furious.

More about BMW Car Club Gauteng

The Club was formed in 1981 to afford like minded enthusiasts the opportunity to interact with each other through a comprehensive calendar of events, a club magazine and website portal. The Club also organizes adrenaline and social based events such as breakfast runs, classic car gatherings, Concours d’Elegance competitions, noggins, weekend trips, gymkhana’s and top speed events. The Club is proud of its family ethos where all enthusiasts are welcome. Annual membership starts from as little as R350, more information is available at www.bmwcarclub.co.za.