Lee Thompson continued his dominance in the BMW ///M Performance Parts Race Series Turbo Cup at Zwartkops Raceway this past weekend (11-12 September), slicing Anton Pommersheim’s points lead down to just five points.
Despite the hot overhead conditions for Round 6, the weekend saw quite a few breakouts, starting in Friday’s practice sessions already. Oz Biagioni broke out of Class C during the afternoon practice sessions.
The fast times and breakouts continued on Saturday morning. Lee Thompson took his fourth consecutive Dunlop Pole Position after recording a time of 1:00.623, beating his own previous record for a BMW ///M Performance Parts Race Series car around the Pretoria circuit. Pommersheim joined him on the front row of the Class A grid. Leon Loubser and Bob Neill lined up on the second row. Bilal Ahmed, one of the drivers opting to move back into Class B earlier in the season, broke back into Class A during the qualifying session and lined up in fifth place. After missing the Gqeberha round, Renier Smith was back on the grid and headed up the Class B brigade. Biagioni proved to be up to the Class B challenge and qualified second. Wessel Mostert headed up points leader Ethan Coetzee on the second row, with Lenard Archer in fifth. Nicky Dicks topped Class C from Bennie Luyt and Hein van der Merwe, the latter two both back in the mix after missing Round 5. Points leader, Reinhardt Miller, had to settle for fourth place, ahead of fellow class title rival Anand Naidu. Craig Herbst topped Class D, with points leader Michael Grobler lining up ahead of Johan Miller, Theo Chetty, and Gerhard du Plessis. This came after Sayen Moodley, the double winner in Round 5 after taking a Breakout Joker, broke into Class C, with no reprieve this time around.
Thompson made a good start, but four laps in, the race was neutralised under the Safety Car after Moodley went off and got stuck at Turn 5. Fortunately, his car was cleared without a stoppage, resulting in a sprint to the finish. This meant that Thompson had no margin to play with when the leaders came up to lap the backmarkers, but held Pommersheim off to take the win. Neill took a somewhat lonely third place, ahead of Loubser and Nishal Singh. Smith came into the pits with a mechanical issue on the formation lap, but was able to take the start from pit lane. This worked in Coetzee’s favour, who beat Mostert to the line. Biagioni completed the podium. Smith did have some fortune though, after Archer was penalised with 30 seconds for a false start, which relegated him to fifth in the classification. Dicks dominated Class C, where the only significant change was Van Der Merwe dropping out of the battle. Luyt and Naidu completed the podium, with Miller fourth. Fifth place went to Michael Grobler, who broke out of Class D, which took him out of a second-place finish and the Turbo Cup title contention. Herbst took the Class D win, with Grobler’s breakout promoting Miller, Chetty, Du Plessis, and Gerald Anthony.
Race 2 saw Thompson again making light work of getting to the front from the inverted grid and took his eighth-consecutive win. Pommersheim again had to settle for second place, again managed to not let him get away too far. Neill, Loubser, and Singh again completed the top five. This time Smith had no issues and took the Class B win from Coetzee and Mostert. Both Biagioni and Archer retired before reaching two-thirds of the race distance and were not classified. Dicks made it two for the day in Class C, with Miller and Van der Merwe completing the podium. Luyt and Naidu completed the top five. Herbst also completed two wins, ahead of Anthoney and Chetty, the last finishers.
Thompson again took the ZF Aftermarket Overall Win. His 20 points put him four clear of Pommersheim, who was four clear of Neill. Coetzee’s 18 points saw him take Class B from Smith, who scored 15, and Mostert, who scored 14. Dicks won Class C with 20 points, seven clear of Miller and Luyt, with Miller taking second place based on his faster accumulated time. Herbst also scored 20 points to win Class D. The 12-point for second was settled in Anthony’s favour based on accumulated time, with Chetty third.
The additional three points for the pole position and his two fastest laps saw Thompson cut Pommersheim’s Class A lead down to five points, with Loubser now a further 32 adrift. The gap at the top of Class B remained nine points between Coetzee and Smith, after the latter took the three extra points. Biagioni now slots into third place, 6.8 points adrift. While it’s still close at the top of Class C, Miller now has a 3.9-point margin over Grobler, who slots into second place. Naidu is 1.1 points back in third. Herbst is the new Class D leader, 19 points clear of Anthony, with Eugene Gouws a further 10 adrift.
Grobler’s breakout also changes things at the top of the Turbo Cup. Pommersheim and Thompson are in the top two spots, with Herbst now third, two points behind the latter.
Round 7 of the BMW ///M Performance Parts Race Series Turbo Cup will see the field return to Red Star Raceway on 9-10 October.