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Fresh from the high of claiming the Sasol GTC Racing Team’s first one-two result at the Sasol Raceday last Saturday, Gennaro Bonafede and Hennie Groenewald head into the final round of the inaugural Sasol GTC Championship looking for another strong set of results.
The East London Grand prix circuit plays host to the GTC Championship on 3rd December and both drivers are relishing the prospect of racing their BMW GTC cars at the fastest track in the country.
With Bonafede anchored in second place in the current overall championship standings following a strong set of results from mid-season including his maiden pole and victory in Cape Town in September. He followed that up with a dominant display at Kyalami a month later and continued at Zwartkops last week. His tally stands at four victories and six additional podium results.
“Practice will be crucial to find the ideal set-up for the track. The long straights and tight complex section invariably results in a compromise though. I love the track because it’s very fast and flowing. The race fans are in for a treat as they have never seen anything like GTC cars in the country before. And it’s great to end the season on the beach! said Bonafede of his last outing of the year.
Hennie Groenewald gave a huge sigh of relief after his Zwartkops outing. The multiple former champion has struggled to come to terms with his BMW while the team has also used his car for many of the development testing and not everything has worked as expected.
After his best outing of the season which saw Groenewald claim just a single podium finish before the Sasol Raceday, he is re-energized and raring to get to East London. We should be able to take our result from Zwartkops and transfer it to the East London track. I would like to build on this and fight for a win before the year is out. The team and I have made some positive gains and the car didn’t miss a beat”.
Team Manager Vic Maharaj has his work cut out for him to turn the cars around in time to head to the Eastern Cape. “I would like to unlock a little more pace and find some more performance from our package. There are time constraints as we get going on Wednesday. The track has the highest top speed in the country while mastering the infield complex of corners has the single biggest impact on lap times. If we have another clean weekend, the results will come”.
Race fans can expect the fire-spitting GTC cars to deliver top drawer entertainment, hopefully headed by the Sasol GTC Racing Team. Fans are welcome to visit the team’s pit area and chat the drivers and collect an autograph during the day.
[Issued by Sasol]
