HISTORIC 1-2 FOR TIMKEN SUBARU RACING AT KYALAMI WINTER RACES
June 7, 2010 by ProMotor
Hennie Groenewald and Dawie Olivier rocked the Bridgestone Production Car championship with a stunning 1-2 finish in the second Kyalami production car race after dominating the front row of the grid, while Groenewald set the two fastest times in qualifying for races one and three.
Practice and Qualifying:
Hennie Groenewald’s brand new Timken Subaru Impreza STI turned a wheel for the first time just 24 hours before qualifying. He spent the three practice sessions bedding the car in and trying to identify possible teething problems before qualifying on Saturday. The Impreza suffered from fuel surge problems late in the day, dropping Groenewald from 3rd fastest to 6th.
Dawie Olivier, returning to the cockpit for the first time since winning the 2009 season finale at Kyalami, spent his practice sessions ‘finding himself’ after such a long layoff. “I went out on very old tyres to circulate. Because of the fuel surge problems in both cars, we overfilled the tanks with about 40kg extra fuel. Although the handling and brakes felt good, I couldn’t set a decent time”, Olivier mused.
Groenewald rocketed the Timken Subaru to the fastest time, setting a 1 minute fifty dead, good enough for pole by 0.116 second from Anthony Taylor’s BMW 335. A rule infringement saw Groenewald handed a penalty that saw him start from the back of the Class A field. “The rules say after qualifying you must go straight to the parc ferme area or your pit and await an official to escort you to the weighbridge. I opted to go around the back of the pits but didn’t wait for an official”.
Race 1 and 2:
Groenewald made short work of his opposition, passing three cars on the opening lap before a safety car incident bunched the field up. “I knew the car was strong, but the safety car cut three laps from my race distance. I wanted to get to 6th as that would give me pole for the second race”, Grunewald related. “I passed Johan Fourie on the outside of Sunset Corner thanks to the extra grip provided by the Subaru’s All-Wheel Drive – I got better drive out of the double apex turns 3 and 4 which set me up perfectly and gave me 5th place”.
Olivier was on his team-mate’s tail from the start and quickly made progress through the field, replicating Groenewald’s move through turns 3, 4 and 5 to slip past Reghard Roets’ BMW, who had held Olivier up. “I sold Roets a dummy going into turn 5, aiming for the outside of the corner, before slipping up in the inside”, said an elated Olivier. In the run to Clubhouse Corner, we touched as we both tried to hold our lines”.
Michael Stephen’s Audi was the next car in Olivier’s sights and on the final lap, with a better line into the final corner before the straight, he slipped past in a perfect All-Wheel Drive vs Quattro manoevre that gave Olivier 6th place and pole position for race 2.
The Timken Subarus lined up first and second on the inverted grid for race two, Olivier on pole and Groenewald next to him. As the lights changed, Olivier rocketed into the lead, with Groenewald tucked right up under the rear wing, with the BMWs lining up behind the flying Imprezas.
Groenewald passed Olivier going into the Bowl on lap 2, with Olivier fighting back before giving his team-mate room going into the kink. “Dawie didn’t make it easy for me”, said Groenewald. “He shadowed me throughout the race and pushed me quite hard, especially when Melvill Priest started to close up on both of us. Dawie was on the pace throughout the race which was great to see”.
“Hennie passed me into the Bowl and I tried to defend my position but without any heroics. I’m nowhere in the championship so I wanted to ride shotgun for Hennie. I saw Melvill closing up and tried to edge Hennie on a bit to open the gap. It was a fantastic race and I’m glad I could run at Hennie’s pace in my first race back behind the wheel”, said the ecstatic driver.
Race 3:
With Groenewald starting from pole having set the second quickest time in qualifying which determines the grid for race three, he was quickly under attack from Taylor’s BMW, who got ahead through the sweeping turns 1 and 2. Groenewald slipped into the lead going up the inside through turn 4 with the whole pack in hot pursuit. Going into lap three, Groenewald thought he missed a gear. “With Taylor right behind me, I looked for 5th, then any gear and could only find 6th, which is the one gear we don’t use at Kyalami”, Groenewald explained. With no gears to drive the Impreza, he was forced to pull off the circuit.
Olivier was embroiled in huge fight with the Audi of Tschops Sipuka. “I saw he made the same mistake on each lap and got through on lap three and was closing in on Stephen’s Audi. As I lined him up to pass under braking between turns 13 and 14, there were no brakes and that was that”, said a disappointed Olivier.
Carel Pienaar, Team Principal of SP Race Engineering said: “We have to conduct a full technical investigation and understand and eliminate these failures. We’ve never had a gearbox issue before and the master brake cylinder in Dawie’s car is a brand new third party component. We may have slightly compromised reliability for race pace and need to find the balance, which is part of our homework in the ten week break before Phakisa”.
“The DNA engineering of the car is sound to be where we are at this stage of its life which is encouraging. In the break we will bring Dawie’s car up to the same specification as the new car. I’m very happy with Hennie’s performance and am particularly delighted with Dawie’s speed both in the car and the way he integrated into the team so easily”, Pienaar added.
Grant Bowring, Brand and Marketing Manager at Subaru Southern Africa joked: “We’ve never had a warranty claim on a Subaru Impreza STI gearbox until Hennie came along! The lack of testing was always going to be a cloud hanging over the new Impreza STI but we did well and the first ever 1-2 for Timken Subaru was a brilliant result. It’s very encouraging for the rest of the season. We’ll be back at Phakisa with a vengeance”.
He added: “I would like to thank everyone in the team, the sponsors Timken, their wives as well as the drivers and their families for all their support and help. Everyone pitched in to help dismantle our pit set-up at the end of a long day, which encapsulates the spirit of the Timken Subaru racing team”. Carel Pienaar echoed Bowring’s sentiments: “There are no prima donnas in our team. It’s a close knit team and everyone is proud of their association”.
The next outing for Timken Subaru Racing, proudly powered by Sasol turbo fuels™plus is at Phakisa in Welkom for round 5 of the WesBank Super Series.
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