Engen Extreme step up a gear for Kyalami

Monday, 24 August 2009

After a positive performance by the Engen Xtreme team in East London, the Xtreme Audi team is feverishly preparing for the second race day and fifth meet in the WesBank Super Series at Kyalami on 27 June.

Michael Stephens in the A3 Engen Xtreme Audi at the end of the East London race day finished second overall, almost matching his performance in at the track in 2008. In Heat 1 Michael after a heated battle with rival Audi driver, Johan Fourie eventually finished 3rd. Xtreme teammate Shaun Watson-Smith also put in a gallant drive finishing in 4th behind Michael.

In Heat 2 starting in the inverted grid position the Xtreme Audi's started low down on the grid, but quickly moved up the pack. Michael and Shaun found themselves in the top five of the pack. With all the cars evenly matched, no one was giving away any positions as they all battled for the smallest advantage, nudging each other as they made their way around the fast sweeping circuit. In a twist of fate Shaun's Audi suffered a puncture and a electrical misfire simultaneously, relegating him to the back causing him to slowly drop down the pack finishing last in Class A with Michael managing to maintain his 4th place.

After the race Shaun Watson-Smith commented, "The performance between all the cars was so close now that every point earned is critical - the first 5 cars across the line in East London were nose to tail! My pace was good but not quite good enough to get to the front, and unfortunately I suffered an engine failure in Heat 2. I am looking forward to a strong race at Kyalami as I will lose some of the success which I gained after a good weekend in Cape Town."

When asked how the team's preparation was progressing for the Kyalami meet, Michael Stephens commented, "The teams are already hard at work making improvements for Kyalami. We have already pin pointed a number of areas that we need to focus on. We will be testing this week to ensure that we find more pace for Kyalami, so that we can bring home race wins."

The Mandela Bay boys are determined to do well at Kyalami, a track where they have tasted success before, and notch up maximum points with their sights firmly set on the 2009 Bridgestone Production championship title.