Despite Round 3 of the BMW ///M Performance Parts Race Series Turbo Cup not playing out quite as Anton Pommersheim hoped, he retained the championship lead on weekend (15-16 May) that saw Lee Thompson dominate Red Star Raceway.
While few will argue against Lee Thompson being one of the best racing drivers produced in South Africa, his second outing in the Series came only because Kashen Naicker was unable to compete in his BMW E92 M3 Turbo GT. Friday afternoon’s qualifying session saw him draw first blood in Class A by taking the Dunlop Pole Position. Pommersheim was the next to line-up, ahead of Bob Neill. Lenard Archer, who moved to Class A in Round 2 and decided to carry his Round 1 points over as well, qualified third. Bilal Ahmed secured fourth place, ahead of Ethan Coetzee, another driver electing to move to Class A. Renier Smith was the sole Class B competitor, and one of two drivers to compete in both the Turbo Cup and NA Cup on the weekend. In Class C, Wessel Mostert headed up the second driver on double duty in the Series, Reinhardt Miller. Bennie Luyt, Oz Biagioni and Nicky Dicks completed the top five. Anand Naidu, the class points leader heading into the weekend, had to settle for 11th place, Michael Grobler headed up the Class D grid from debutant Narser Ismail in Qualifying. As a debutant in circuit racing, Ismail was required to start from the back of the grid. Sayen Moodley, Kyan Boodaya, and Gerald Anthony completed the top five, while class points leader Craig Herbst was unable to participate in the session.
Race 1 was only one lap in before Shriyav Naidu collided with Theo Chetty, necessitating the race to be stopped to clear the stricken cars. This resulted in a restart-from-scratch, but with the race distance reduced to six lap, instead of the original eight.
Thompson held the lead, and held off Neill to the line to take his maiden win in the Series. Further back, Archer held off Nishal Singh for the final podium spot, while Leon Loubser made his way up to fifth place. Although Ahmed was third over the line, he was penalised with 30 seconds for jumping the restart, while Pommersheim, a late pit lane starter, completed four laps, but with two-thirds of the race completed, was classified as the eighth-place finisher. Smith had a fairly easy race en route to his win. Mostert had his hands full with Luyt and Miller, with just over a second separating the trio as they crossed the finish line. Hein van der Merwe fended off Cameron Christian for fourth place. Grobler took his first win of the season, holding off Eugene Gouws in the process. Ismail’s first outing saw him complete the podium, with Anthony in tow, and Johan Miller completing the top five.
In Race 2, shortened to eight laps instead of 10 due to multiple delays in the programme, Thompson again dominated to take another win, while Pommersheim took the runner-up spot. Loubser completed the podium, with Singh and Coetzee fourth and fifth, respectively. Smith brought home another lonely Class B win. In Class C, Miller had the upper hand on Mostert this time. Luyt repeated his third place, while Christian and Van der Merwe traded their places from Race 1. Grobler also made it two wins on the day, this time with Anthony second, and Miller holding off Gouws for third place. Ismail completed the top five.
The ZF-Aftermarket Overall Results for Round 3 saw Thompson taking the win with his 20 points. Neill, who retired after six laps in Race 2 but was still classified in sixth place, was second with 11 points. Loubser and Singh tied on 10 points, but Loubser’s superior aggregate time saw him take third place. While Smith had two wins, being the sole Class B competitor meant that he could only earn eight points. Mostert, with 18 points, finished two clear of Miller, who also found himself two clear of Luyt. Grobler scored 20 points, received the ITOO Driver of the Day award, and won Class D. The 13-point tie for the runner-up spots was settled in Gouws’ favour over Anthony based on his better aggregate time.
Following Round 3, Pommersheim did extend his lead over Archer to 23 points in Class A, with Singh, one drift, slotting into third place ahead of the absent Naicker. Smith has a 22-point lead over Carlo Garbini in Class B. Luyt is the new Class C leader, with a six-point advantage over Naidu. Mostert trails him by 11 points. Grobler now heads up Class D, three points clear of Gouws, while Herbst, the former leader, is three points behind the latter.
Pommersheim’s BMW ///M Performance Parts Race Series Turbo Cup points lead has only decreased with one point to 10 points now over Luyt, who moved up to second place. Grobler, four points adrift, shoots up to third, while Anand Naidu dropped a place, two points behind Grobler. Gouws, fifth, trails the latter by a single point.
Round 4 of the 2024 BMW ///M Performance Parts Race Series Turbo Cup will see the season’s third visit at Zwartkops Raceway on 12-13 June.