Kyalami Touring Cars rounds 11 and 12

BANKFIN TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
AA Kyalami, July 15, 2000

Colin Windell

Shaun Watson-Smith dominated the first race of the day in his works Petronas Syntium Opel Vectra, leading from lights to flag and setting the fastest lap of the race to notch up his third win of the season.

Anthony Taylor, who was the main beneficiary of a lap eight incident which affected a three-car battle for second place, came from an initial fifth place to finish second in his works Engen Audi A4, a distant 8,4 sec behind Watson-Smith. Reigning modified saloon car champion Gary Formato had an excellent Bankfin Touring Car debut, guesting in the BP Nissan Dealer Team Primera normally driven by Englishman Mark Peters, and finished third, 0,53 sec behind Taylor.

In the second race Anthony Taylor rounded off a great day for himself and Audi with his first and Audi's second win of the year.

It was a hectic, paint-swapping race throughout most of the 12 laps, with five cars running nose to tail in the front for the first six laps. Finally, it was Watson-Smith who claimed second from Deon Joubert (Petronas Opel Vectra) and log leader Giniel de Villiers (BP Nissan Primera).

SOUTH AFRICAN TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUNDS 11 & 12, KYALAMI (ZA), 2 x 12 LAPS, 103,4 KM, JULY 15, Race 1 1 Shaun Watson-Smith (Opel Vectra) 23m 15,52s, 132 km/h; 2 Anthony Taylor (Audi A4) 23m 24,07s; 3 Gary Formato (Nissan Primera) 23m 24,61s; 4 Deon Joubert (Opel Vectra) 23m 25,46s; 5 Marco dos Santos (BMW 318i) 23m 27,42s; 6 Terry Moss (Audi A4) 23m 31,78s; 7 George Bezuidenhout (Nissan Primera) 24m 53,92s; 8 Richard Sorensen (BMW 320i) 24m 59,56s; 9 Marco da Cunha (Nissan Primera) 25m 02,44sec; 10 Brian Martin (Toyota Corolla) 25m 02,49s. Fastest lap: Watson-Smith, 1 min 54,26 sec.

Race 2 1 Anthony Taylor (Audi) 23m 21,75s 131 km/h; 2 Shaun Watson-Smith (Opel) 23m 25,16s; 3 Deon Joubert (Opel) 23m 25,40s; 4 Giniel De Villiers (Nissan) 23m 26,35s; 5 Gary Formato (Nissan) 23m 28,67s; 6 Duncan Vos (Nissan) 24m 04,25s; 7 Marco Da Cunha (Nissan) 24m 44,59s; 8 Richard Sorensen (BMW) 25m 03,46s; 9 AJ Taylor (Nissan) 25m 31,82s; 10 Terry Moss (Audi) 11 laps. Fastest lap (new lap record): Vos, 1 min 55,59sec.

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (after 12 rounds of 20)

Drivers

1 Giniel de Villiers (Nissan Primera) 150; 2 Shaun Watson-Smith (Opel Vectra) 131; 3 Duncan Vos (Nissan Primera) 86; 4 Deon Joubert (Opel Vectra) 84; 5 Mark Peters (Nissan Primera) 74; 6 Anthony Taylor (Audi A4) 71; 7 Terry Moss (Audi A4) 69; 8 Shaun van der Linde (BMW) 62; 9 Marco dos Santos (BMW) 34; 10 Neil Stephen (Audi A4) 20.

Manufacturers

1 Nissan 341; 2 Opel 201; 3 Audi 153; 4 BMW 94; 5 Toyota 3.

Procar Challenge

1 George Bezuidenhout (Nissan Primera) 141; 2 Marco da Cunha (Nissan Primera) 126; 3 Colin Hastie (Nissan Primera) 67; 4 Brian Martin (Toyota Corolla) 62; 5 Anthony Taylor (Nissan Sentra) 61; 6 Richard Sorensen (BMW 320i) 50; 7 Irshad Jaffer (Nissan Primera) 31; 8 Bevan Masters (VW Polo) 22; 9 Owen Roberts (VW Golf) 19; 10 Visser du Plessis (Nissan Sentra) 16.