Bankfin Touring Cars rounds 9 and 10, Killarney

2000 BANKFIN TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP ROUNDS 9 AND 10, KILLARNEY, CAPE TOWN SATURDAY, 27 MAY, 2000

Colin Windell

Giniel De Villiers (BP Nissan Dealer Team Primera) extended his championship lead to 42 points after taking a lights to flag victory in round nine from team-mate Duncan Vos, but Shaun Watson-Smith (Petronas Opel Vectra) claimed line honours in round 10 from De Villiers.

De Villiers qualified in pole position on his home track and Vos started from second on the grid shadowing De Villiers all the way to the flag setting a new lap record of 1m17,561s in the process. Mark Peters (BP/Slush Puppie Nissan Primera) started from third and held on to the finish from Watson-Smith, Anthony Taylor (Engen Audi A4) and Shaun van der Linde (BMW 318i). Watson-Smith (Opel) ended De Villiers' 3-year winning streak at this circuit, and closed the championship gap to 39 points, when he took a 0,5 sec win over the Nissan driver in the second race.

In an otherwise processional race, Watson-Smith shadowed De Villiers for 11 laps, before selling the reigning champion a dummy on the 12th tour at Engen Corner to take the lead. De Villiers chased him hard, but could not reclaim the place and had to settle for second with Taylor finishing third ahead of Deon Joubert (Petronas Opel Vectra).

<pre> SOUTH AFRICAN TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUNDS 9 & 10, KILLARNEY (ZA), 2 x 15 LAPS, 98,01 KM, may 27, Race 1 1 Giniel de Villiers (Nissan Primera), 19m 36,703s; 2 Duncan Vos (Nissan Primera) 19m 36,910s; 3 Mark Peters (Nissan Primera) 19m 45,609s; 4 Shaun Watson-Smith (Opel Vectra) 19m 45,825s; 5 Shaun van der Linde (BMW 318i) 19m 46,317s; 6 Anthony Taylor (Audi A4) 19m 46,680s; 7 Terry Moss (Audi A4) 19m 52,063s; 8 Deon Joubert (Opel Vectra) 20m 03,381s; 9 Marco dos Santos (BMW 318i) 20m 06,701s; 10 Colin Hastie (Nissan Primera) 20m 26,792s.

Fastest lap (new lap record): Vos, 1 min 17,561 sec.

Race 2 1 1 Shaun Watson-Smith (Opel) 19m 34,161s; 2 Giniel De Villiers (Nissan) 19m 34,716s; 3 Anthony Taylor (Audi) 19m 42,883s; 4 Deon Joubert (Opel) 19m 43,034s; 5 Mark Peters (Nissan) 19m 43,284s; 6 Duncan Vos (Nissan) 19m 44,217s; 7 Shaun Van der Linde (BMW) 19m 49,978s; 8 Marco Dos Santos (BMW) 20m 05,686s; 9 Colin Hastie (Nissan) 20m 12,544s; 10 Marco da Cunha (Nissan) 1 lap.

Fastest lap (new lap record): Joubert, 1 min 17,600 sec.

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (after 10 rounds of 20)

Drivers 1 Giniel de Villiers (Nissan Primera) 139; 2 Shaun Watson-Smith (Opel Vectra) 100; 3 Duncan Vos (Nissan Primera) 81; 4 Mark Peters (Nissan Primera) 74; 5 Deon Joubert (Opel Vectra) 64; 6 Terry Moss (Audi A4) 63; 7 Shaun van der Linde (BMW) 62; 8 Anthony Taylor (Audi A4) 44; 9 Marco dos Santos (BMW) 28; 10 Neil Stephen (Audi A4) 20; 11 Colin Hastie (Nissan) 14; 12 George Bezhuidenhout (Nissan) 7; Marco da Cunha (Nissan) 7; 14 Brian Martin (Toyota) 2

Manufacturers 1 Nissan 300; 2 Opel 156; 3 Audi 120; 4 BMW 82; 5 Toyota 2.

Procar Challenge 1 George Bezuidenhout (Nissan Primera) 126; 2 Marco da Cunha (Nissan Primera) 101; 3 Colin Hastie (Nissan Primera) 67; 4 Brian Martin (Toyota Corolla) 50; 5 Anthony Taylor (Nissan Sentra) 45; 6 Irshad Jaffer (Nissan Primera) 31; 7 Richard Sorenson (BMW) 26; 8 Owen Roberts (VW Golf) 19;

Colin Windell colin@autonews.co.za