The Engen Xtreme Team contested the penultimate round of their championship at Zwartkops Raceway on Saturday. In an event marked by unpredictable conditions with the team facing everything from high temperatures to rain storms, the Engen Xtreme Audi A3 GTC entries were still producing laptimes that made it tough for their competition to keep up.
The qualifying session on Friday afternoon saw the Sasol GTC Africa leader, Michael Stephen, produce a best laptime more than a second faster than his rivals – and they managed to get within a second of his time measuring his second-best to their best result.
“This was a challenging weekend for everyone,” says Stephen. “All of the practice sessions were done in the dry but then qualifying was wet – we still made pole in the session though, even with a dry setup in those slippery conditions.”
Stephen’s teammate, Simon Moss, qualified in third place, trailing second spot by just 0.3 of a second. This despite the weather conditions which turned Zwartkops Raceway into a slick and rain-soaked track just waiting to catch the unwary.
“When the rain started, the inside of my windscreen completely fogged up and I couldn’t see where I was going,” says Moss. “I was quick enough for third before the rain, but was just getting started, I could definitely have gone quicker if the windscreen hadn’t misted up.”
Race one on Saturday morning saw Stephen and his Engen Xtreme Audi A3 deliver his usual result, on the top step of the podium having dominated during the 12 lap race and winning by a margin of 4.7 seconds. Moss made minor contact with another competitor early in the race which caused a front wheel to rub on the fender but was left stuck in the gravel, waiting to be towed out and having to rejoin the field a lap down after he was bumped off the track.
For Stephen the second race – which saw the rain return to make competition on slick tyres a challenge – marked the first time in several years that the multiple national motorsport champion has not completed a race. A spin just two laps from the finish saw the race leader unable to rejoin and he was forced to watch the race finish from the sidelines. Up until that point, Stephen had been lapping nearly a half-second quicker than his rivals.
“From that dominant qualifying I went on to win race one, leading from start to finish. Race two started well but conditions changed from dry to wet in that race and it caught me out on lap six,” says Stephen. “I lost the back end, caught it the first time but couldn’t hold it the second time, went off the track and clipped the tyres which sent me into a spin and twisted the propshaft off. It was a bit disappointing that I couldn’t get the car running again to finish, but my first DNF in several years isn’t too bad.”
Moss suffered a damaged oil pump belt in the second race and had to retire, despite being amongst the top four in terms of pace. From his third place in qualifying on Friday afternoon, it appeared that Moss would be amongst the leaders on race day. From the opening laps, he was on pace and set to shadow his teammate throughout the weekend, but technical issues in the second race of the day prevented this reality.
The Engen Xtreme Team now looks to the final round in East London, on Saturday, December 3 where a high-speed weekend awaits to round off a national championship season that has been dominated by the pace of the Engen Xtreme Audi A3s.