Another win for Poulter and SAM Racing's Nissan Dealer Team
Former national production car champion Leeroy Poulter (Nissan Dealer Team Nissan 350Z) made it three race wins in three consecutive rounds of this year's Bridgestone-sponsored championship when he led from lights to flag in race one at the famous East London Grand Prix Circuit on Saturday.
The 2006 champion stamped his authority on a closely-matched field in Saturday morning's qualifying by taking his second successive pole of the season with a time of 1 min 28,79 sec around the high-speed, 3,9-km grand prix circuit, three quarters of a second quicker than the Audi A4 Quattro of Michael Stephen and over a second clear of the BMW 330i of 2005 champion Anthony Taylor.
Poulter withstood strong challenges from the Audi Quattro's of, first, reigning champion Johan Fourie and then Melvill Priest and took the chequered flag a comfortable 1,5 seconds ahead of Taylor. Stephen was third with Audi team-mate and 2007 champion Shaun Watson-Smith fourth.
SAM Racing team-mate Marco da Cunha in the Nissan Dealer Team Tubular/Exa Motor Group 350Z started from the back of the grid after a lurid spin exiting the infield complex on his qualifying lap. He worked his way up to fifth by lap six of the eight-lap race, only to drop back to ninth at the finish after experiencing fuel surge problems.
It was a much different story in race two. As a result of the traditional reverse grid, Poulter started in ninth place and Da Cunha found himself in pole position. Da Cunha successfully fought off the attentions of Fourie in the first few laps and then kept a hard-charging Priest at bay until the penultimate lap when the Audi driver, taking full advantage of the better tyre wear on the all-wheel drive Quattro, took the lead and went on to beat the Nissan by less than a second after 10 exciting laps.
Poulter could have done without some of the excitement. He had made up three places to be in sixth place at the end of the fourth lap, when he came off worst in an incident – under investigation – involving Taylor and the Subaru of Dawie Olivier that resulted in Poulter going off the circuit at high speed.
The incident lost him half a lap and dropped him to the back of the class A field. He recovered to finish a disappointed seventh, while Taylor went on to take fifth and keep his championship lead.
Poulter, the only driver with three race wins and two pole positions, is now just a single point behind second-placed Fourie, who in turn is 16 points behind Taylor.
Poulter: "My car was very strong all weekend and we had no problems other than the incident in race two. It was a pity as we were looking at scoring enough points to move into second in the championship."
Da Cunha: "After my mistake in qualifying I didn't expect much in race one. Race two was a blast. The car's rear end started moving around towards the end as the tyres wore, but we nearly made it. I'm very happy with my second place. I really enjoyed the race."
Lee Philips, SAM Racing and Nissan Dealer Team principal: "I reckon we have the strongest driver pairing in the field right now. Leeroy is unbeatable when he starts from the front row of the grid – three times in three race meetings – and Marco also showed again today that he has what it takes to win. He picked up a lot of compliments for what was a skilful and mature drive. Had the rear tyres on the rear-wheel drive Nissan not deteriorated faster than the chasing four-wheel drive Audis' tyres, he might well have celebrated his first win of the season."
Provisional results - race 1 (8 laps, 31,36 km):
- Leeroy Poulter (Nissan) 12m 10,89s
- Anthony Taylor (BMW) +1,52s
- Michael Stephen (Audi) 1,70s
- Shaun Watson-Smith (Audi) +2,16s
- Melvill Priest (Audi) +2,48s
- Robert Wolk (BMW) +5,95s
- Johan Fourie (Audi) +7,20s
- Dawie Olivier (Subaru) +8,76s
- Marco da Cunha (Nissan) +8,82s
Fastest lap: Watson-Smith, 1m 30,39s on lap 2.
Race 2 (10 laps, 39,21 km):
- Priest (Audi) 15m 12,65s
- Da Cunha (Nissan) +0,91s
- Fourie (Audi) +1,15s
- Stephen (Audi) +1,30s
- Taylor (BMW) +7,71s
- Wolk (BMW) +11,57s
- Poulter (Nissan) + 44,98s
- Olivier (Subaru) +46,06s
- Watson-Smith (Audi) 8 laps
Fastest lap: Priest, 1m 29,86s on lap 4.
SAM Racing acknowledges and thanks its sponsors for their continued support: Tubular Technical Construction, Exa Motor Group, Ferodo, Exa Platinum Rentals, Top Car Paint & Panel, Tri Dent Middelburg, Hi Tech Mag Repairs, Rob Green Motorsport, SAX Shocks & Signs For You.