BPCC: Audi S4 quattros bank valuable points at Phakisa‏

Action and hard racing were the order of the day at Phakisa Freeway for the Audi S4 quattro racers. The qualifying session saw the four Audi S4 quattros qualifying in consecutive position, from fourth place. Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sports Medicine) proved the fastest of the qualifiers in the Audi S4 quattros, setting him up for a good weekend of racing.

It was, however, Gennaro Bonafede (A32 – Ferodo Racing), who produced the best results of the meeting once the chequered flag had dropped on the last of the three races for the day. Hot on the heels of Bonafede was the defending champion, Michael Stephen (A1 – Engen Xtreme) and his teammate, Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme) in the overall points tally. “It has been a good ending for a tough day, I'm happy to be the fastest of the Audi S4 quattros,” says Bonafede. “We arrived knowing it would be an uphill battle, we had pace and I'm happy to be third here at Phakisa.”

For Priest the weekend that started so well, turned out rather differently when with just one lap of race one completed he suffered a mechanical problem. This sidelined him for the rest of the race – and the rest of the race day, leaving three of the four Audi S4 quattro entries to compete for the rest of the event.

Race one saw Bonafede claim fourth followed by Stephen and Sipuka. Stephen claimed third in the second race with Bonafede in fifth and Sipuka in sixth. The feature race, which sees the racers score double points, saw Bonafede third, followed by Stephen and Sipuka in fourth and fifth.

This put Bonafede third overall on the podium for the day, with the defending champion claiming fourth and Sipuka in fifth place.

“We arrived here at Phakisa knowing it would be difficult and it was all about consolidating points,” says Stephen. “We got some good results here and maintain a good lead in the championship. Hopefully we can pull back some of the advantage at Zwartkops at the next round.”

The Audi S4 quattro racers will go into action again at Zwartkops Raceway on Saturday, 31 August.

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Michael Stephen A1 - Audi S4 - Terry Moss Racing

Tschops Sipuka A2 - Audi S4 - Terry Moss Racing

Melvill Priest A7 - Audi S4 - VMP Motorsport

Gennaro Bonafede A32 - Audi S4 - Ferodo Racing Team / VMP Motorsport