Engen Xtreme Team impresses at Killarney

Tuesday, 05 October 2010

The seventh round of the WesBank Super Series held on Saturday, 2 October at Killarney provided some mixed fortunes for the Engen Xtreme Team in both the VW Polo Cup and Bridgestone Productions categories The highlight of the day was the podium finishes in race two for Engen Audi drivers, Michael Stephen and Tschops Sipuka as they claimed their first one and two position of the year.

The first race for the Engen Audi drivers, Michael Stephen (A3) and Tschops Sipuka (A4) proved to be challenging as they struggled to pass their contenders and completed the race with Stephen in sixth place and Sipuka in seventh.
The highlight of the day for the Engen Xtreme Team was in race two as they got off to a perfect start. Sipuka took the lead and was followed closely by Stephen, while some action took place behind the pair on the opening lap and allowed Sipuka and Stephen to get away. With three laps remaining, Stephen slipped pass Sipuka and the team took their first, one and two place of the year. The unstoppable duo was a force to be reckoned with, as the turbo charged BMW's and Subaru's struggled to pass them.

In the third, 90min feature race the team performed well again with pit stop strategies going according to plan, at the finish, Stephen and Sipuka claimed a well earned third and fourth place respectively. Due to some technical difficulties still haunting Stephen's car, the team made a decision to let Stephen drive Sipuka's car in this feature race, as Stephen is still in the hunt for strong championship position.

In the VW Polo Cup, race one saw Miguel Pasqualli starting in second position on the grid with teammate Kosie Weyers in eighth. During the race Pasqualli was running well until a gearbox linkage issue relegated him down the field, resulting in an 11th place finish. Weyers gained great mileage on his opponents and worked his way up in the fields to a third place podium finish.

Weyers started race two in ninth position on the grid and due to a broken wheel bearing during the race, finished in 13th place. With good efforts, Pasqualli began the race in sixth place and gained two places on opponents by missing a podium finish by a just a few short seconds and walking away with fourth place.

Overall the Engen Xtreme Team was on top-form and achieved great race results. Stephen finished second overall for the day, and Sipuka claimed his best result of the year, by taking third place. Stephen is still in with a chance at to land the championship because he managed to keep a tight grip on third position on the log. Sipuka seems to be working is way up and closing the gaps on main contenders; he currently sits in ninth position on the log. Pasqualli still leads the Masters Category and concluded the race day in eighth place with Weyers in fifth place.

The team looks ahead and starts preparing for the eighth round in East London on 30 October 2010.

Meanwhile, the Engen Xtreme Team continue to show their support for the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital as they pursue valuable points for the initiative where funds are donated for every point the drivers score during a race meeting. To date, the team scored 402 points moving this season's 'Ride for Red' campaign up to R 52 260,00. So far, the overall fundraising campaign has donated more than R 700 000 with an aim to raise 'R1 million by 2010' across all of Engen's sport sponsorship portfolios.