Ford Racing

The 2013 Bridgestone Production Car Championship was brought to you by SMD Group and Ballito Auto, seen above is Gary Formato leading the pack in his Ford EcoBoost Focus at Ford's home track, Kyalami.

Ford Racing

Date: 2013-11-08

The starting grid for Bridgestone Production Cars took a dramatic turn at Kyalami on November 2, when the Castrol MINIs - which had qualified first and second in Class T at 10 am that morning - were moved to the back of the grid for a technical infringement.

Their boost pressure - routinely measured after practice sessions - was found to exceed the allowable limit by a tiny percentage, but sufficient to warrant their times being disallowed. That moved the Ecoboost Focus of Gary Formato into pole position, followed by The Indyoil Golf of Graeme Nathan, who thus started in a very strong position to retain his title.

Formato, starting from pole for the first time in the Focus ST, had a ding-dong battle with Nathan, the Ford driver slowed by a powersteering problem, which made the car unpredictable. Nathan got past on lap four of the si, and took the flag, just over half-a-second between them.

Formato and Nathan enjoyed another good duel until the Ford experienced a tyre failure. After that class T ended up being an all-VW affair and the orange Indyoil Golf GTis finished first and second, Nathan also slowing on the final straight to let his young understudy - Jacques 'The Stiglet' Joubert - past. Third place went to the Ryanair Golf of Ryan Cooper - until it was discovered that his engine was overboosting. That promoted Lee Thompson to third, the second Castrol MINI of Cronje already back in the pits with a mechanical problem.

The class T battle was one of attrition and the pace was so hot that by half-distance the cars were heading for the pits on a regular basis, most having overworked their tyres.

The feature race itself was all about the MINIs. They had had a rollercoaster day with both cars experiencing issues throughout the afternoon. But it all came good in the finale and the Castrol cars seemed to be easier on their tyres than rival brands, able to go harder for longer. Lee Thompson rapidly moved into the lead, dispatching Nathan and Formato along the way, to dominate completely. Team mate Cronje came from the back as a result of his second sprint DNF and worked his way into second place. The likes of Formato and Robertson both pitting to change tyres, while Nathan opted to stay out and soldier on at reduced pace - an approach that netted him fifth in class T.

The 12-lapper was a grandstand finish to the 2013 Bridgestone Production Cars Championship. Only honour was at stake and the champions for the year had been confirmed after the second sprint race but no one seemed to drive any more carefully as a result. The final result saw Graeme Nathan on top with 258 points, followed closely by Gavin Cronje on 224 points and third place went to Jacques Joubert on 179.

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