Castrol Mini John Cooper Works wins at Killarney

Fastest in qualifying and an emphatic victory in the opening seven-lap sprint race by Lee Thompson were the highlights of a successful outing for the class T Castrol MINI John Cooper Works team in round two of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship at Killarney in Cape Town on Saturday, 29 March 2014.

It was a close-fought battle for pole position for the first of the day’s two races, with Thompson prevailing over second-placed Michael van Rooyen by just two hundredths of a second and the top four covered by only three tenths of a second.

Thompson, a winner five times last season, was happy to claim his first victory of the new season by 1,8 seconds from defending class T champion Graeme Nathan. Van Rooyen was third.

Grid positions for the 14-lap feature race, which carries double points, were determined by current championship positions, which saw Thompson start in fifth place. He was not to be denied and took the lead on lap four before opening up a massive winning margin of more than eight seconds over Nathan.  His car was subsequently found to be underweight and he was excluded from the results.

Team principal Donovan van Heerden explained: “While the car’s final mass at race end was calculated correctly, what happened during the race was that the car suffered from an intermittent misfire from lap one all the way to the end of the race. Because the misfire was a spark issue the ECU over-fueled the car in an attempt to solve the problem. This meant that raw fuel was pushed out of the exhaust causing the fuel consumption to increase dramatically. This ultimately resulted in the car being 2 kg underweight as it exceeded the estimated fuel consumption figures.“

New team-mate Ryan Rhode, in only his second outing in the Castrol MINI John Cooper Works, endured a frustrating weekend in which technical problems gave him little time in the car to acclimatise himself and find a suitable race set-up. After failing to post a qualifying time, he started the first race from the back of the grid and finished sixth, a lap in arrears, after experiencing gearbox problems. He didn’t make the grid for the start of the feature race.   

Donovan van Heerden, team principal: “Lee was in a class of his own this weekend and through no fault of his own was deprived of well-deserved back-to-back victories on Saturday and a handsome haul of championship points,” said Van Heerden. “Ryan, who impressed all of us with his dedication and commitment during testing for this weekend, had one of those weekends that are best forgotten. He shows great promise and I’m sure will bounce back in the next round.”

Thompson: “We can win this championship. We have a great car and all we need to do is keep our minds on the task at hand and not offer the opposition the slightest opportunity to take advantage of us.”

The next round of the championship is at Port Elizabeth’s Aldo Scribante circuit in the Eastern Cape on May 3.

In addition to principal sponsor Castrol, the team enjoys support from MINI John Cooper Works, EPS Courier Services, Powerbrake and Sony Playstation. In addition, ADF has secured a deal with one of the world‘s leading sponsorship and brand engagement agencies, Octagon.

Ends