SAM Racing shines at Kyalami
The sun shone on SAM Racing at Kyalami on Saturday when the privateer team took first place overall in class A in round six of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship.
Marco da Cunha, driving the Tubular-backed Nissan Dealer Team 350Z, scored an excellent second in race one after qualifying third on Friday and was fourth in race two after starting from seventh place on the reverse grid. His combined results, the best he has achieved this year, placed him ahead of all his rivals - including the two factory Nissan 350Zs – for the day.
"The car was good today and I might even have done better in race two if someone hadn't run into the back of me around mid-race," said Da Cunha. "My exhaust came loose and ended up dragging along the tarmac, robbing me of horse power, so I settled for fourth place."
Team-mate Darryn Lobb was out of luck in the second Tubular-backed Nissan and was unable to duplicate the fine form he showed in the previous round in East London. Lobb struggled with the set-up of his car in practice and was only able to complete one slow lap in qualifying. He started from 11th on the grid in the first of Saturday's two races and was 10th at the finish. He improved to seventh in race two after making up three places during the 10-lapper.
"We have worked very hard to be competitive in the only two privately-entered Nissan 350Zs in the championship and today's performance by Marco has been a great reward for the entire team's efforts," said Lee Philips, team principal. "We have enjoyed excellent support from Nissan Motorsport throughout the season and we're happy to repay them with Nissan's best result of the weekend."
SAM Racing is also one of the top teams in the Formula Volkswagen National Challenge with Wesleigh Orr (Global Consulting Solutions VW) recording the best result of the weekend with third in race two. Orr was fourth in race one.
Team-mate Paulo da Cunha, younger brother of Marco, recovered well from an accident in race one to finish a fighting fifth in race two. Da Cunha rode over the outside kerb on the run from Clubhouse corner to the Esses and was catapulted nose first into the Armco barrier on the inside. He was lying sixth at the time with two laps of the 10-lap race remaining.
"I misjudged my exit from the corner and was a little too heavy on the throttle," said Da Cunha. "The team did a great job getting my car ready for the second race and I'm pleased I was able to repay them with a good result."
Philips was philosophical about the team's results in the single seater category. "We expected to do better than we did after our good showing in East London a month ago, where Wesleigh was right on the pace. Some of the other teams clearly made bigger strides than us during the break, although we put in the hard work in preparation and were, frankly, surprised. We have made big strides since we were last at Kyalami, but clearly not enough.
"Paulo was unlucky in race one. He was having a good dice for fifth place when he overdid it coming out of Clubhouse. The car was extensively damaged and the pit crew did a great job fixing it. He drove well in race two.
"I think we went the wrong way with set-up during practice and by the time we were on the right track we had run out of time. We just weren't able to challenge the top three this weekend (although Wesleigh was just three tenths of a second off the pace) and we'll be having a good look at our options before the next round at Phakisa in August.