The Audi S4 quattro racers were in the thick of the action at Killarney Raceway on Saturday. The event, round two of the Extreme Festival, saw Hennie Groenewald (8 – Audi Sasolracing) set the trend for the weekend, producing the fastest times in qualifying.
“For the last year we haven’t set the timing screen alight on Friday during practise,” says Groenewald. “Here in Cape Town that has been remedied, we looked good and we were ahead of some of the other competitors setting us up for a good race day. Race one was good (a victory always is) and race two – even though we were dicing for seventh – was the most fun and good racing out on track. Good clean racing and lots of fun for all of us.”
“Race three was similar, lots of action and good racing for the fans, I was behind Michael and wasn’t quite able to pip him to the finish but we had a good day’s results and a good haul of points. We’re looking forward to the next event now and it will be all about keeping our momentum going!”
His teammate, Gennaro Bonafede (32 – Audi Sasolracing) was third-quickest in his Audi S4 quattro, followed by Michael Stephen (12 – Engen Xtreme) and Simon Moss (38 – Engen Xtreme) in fourth and fifth places respectively.
“Qualifying third was good,” says Gennaro. “Getting into second place in race one was also a good thing, but Graeme running into me in the second lap put me into the back of the pack. With the reverse grid for race two that actually put me at the front of the grid and the victory in race two was great!”
“That final race was all Audi and the four of us were super-close. I couldn’t get past the guys in front, Michael was doing a great job of defending, but we got good points and with a third and first-place finish with fastest laps recorded in race two, it has been a good weekend.”
Groenewald turned his qualifying result into a race one win, with Stephen moving up to third place and Moss in fourth. Bonafede slipped down the order to cross the line for eighth.
“We’ve been battling for a bit of pace the whole weekend,” says Stephen. “To come away with a third place and a race victory is probably more than we could have asked for under the circumstances. Clearly we will have a bit of work to do in the run-up to Scribante, but I’m confident we’ll have everything in place for that event.”
In race two the result was very different for Bonafede who claimed the victory, with Moss in fifth, Groenewald sixth and Stephen in seventh spot, setting the scene for the final race of the day. Here the front of the field was an all-Audi affair. Four Audi S4 quattros at close quarters throughout the race put on a spectacular display of racing, finishing off the national race day on a high note.
“I was 0.002 of a second off of Michael’s time in qualifying, so I had good pace,” says Moss. “Race one wasn’t bad, I overtook several cars at the start but had contact with one of the racers and that cost me. The second race my new tyres didn’t have much of an impact because even with a good start I just couldn’t get past some of the slower cars through the corners.”
“Race three was a very good race, I did make a bit of a mistake in the first corner which is when Gary got close, but it was good, hard racing and made for an awesome finish to the day, battling with him through the corners.”
Round three for the Audi S4 quattro competitors is at Aldo Scribante Raceway on Saturday, June 13, in Port Elizabeth.
Alan Straton
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