F30 Racer

Midrand. Hot on the heels of the launch of the new BMW 3 Series sedan, Team Afrox’s new BMW 335i race car last week raised the bar at Killarney Raceway, Cape Town, setting blistering times in all the dry practice sessions of the Wesbank Super Series race meeting.

Team Afrox racers, Etienne van der Linde and Anthony Taylor, took very little time finding the sweet spot with the new car. An initial down-pour saw all-wheel drive competitors dominate the time sheets, but as a dry line started to form, the rear-wheel drive BMW 335i race car soon shot up the time sheets. By the end of Friday’s sessions, Team Afrox engineers and drivers alike believed that the chances of qualifying the BMW 335i on the front row on Saturday morning were high.

With little testing and seat time for the drivers, Team Afrox ended what seemed to be the closest qualifying session seen in production cars for many years with championship leader Taylor in third, while Van der Linde occupied fifth position.

The first race started with a group of all-wheel drive cars taking advantage of the static start. Taylor fought off many challenges, but soon fell out with a throttle calibration difficulty fault. Van der Linde fought bravely to bring his BMW home in fourth place.

Race two saw Van der Linde start from a better grid position. He used the power of the BMW TwinPower Turbo to full effect, bringing the car home in second place. Team mate Taylor had to start from the pit lane and pushed hard, showing his intention for the feature race, and set the fastest lap time, which took him to the pole position for the feature race.

Race three was the opportunity for Taylor to shine in the world’s first new BMW 335i race car. He romped off never to be challenged again, winning by an impressive margin and delivering the maiden win for the Team Afrox BMW on debut. However, Van Der Linde did not have it all his own way after being “t-boned” by an overzealous driver. However, he rejoined the circuit and fought his way back to finish the race in fifth position.

“Team Afrox is delighted with this performance at Killarney. To take away a pole position, a fastest lap and a race win is a tremendous achievement after all the effort by ADF Motorsport to build a brand-new race car in very little time. The results prove that the new BMW 335i is the perfect platform for production car racing, with its sublime engine and chassis combination playing a direct role in this successful race debut,” says Donovan van Heerden, ¬Team Afrox’s Team Principal.

Anthony Taylor, ¬Team Afrox BMW A19 racer says he had a lot of pressure to debut the new BMW 335i race car with a win. “After heat one’s challenges, I was still confident that I was could be fastest in Race two and ensure pole position for the feature race. The car was superb and I used my BMW M Performance brakes to full affect, attacking the circuit and posting the lap times I was looking for. The feature race was a win from lights to flag and I am looking forward to the next round in Port Elizabeth.”

Etienne van der Linde, ¬Team Afrox BMW A10 racer, says the race was frustrating and exciting at the same time. “The day’s racing was typical of the championship, hard and fast. The Team Afrox BMW 335i is a fantastic race car, but with too many racing incidents I could not achieve the sorts of individual race results the car deserved. That being said, the team can walk away very proud of what was achieved in getting the two cars here and being so competitive first time out. I was satisfied with a second overall for the day and I managed to maintain my second place behind my team mate in the championship. With more testing ahead the Team will be more experienced with the car and even stronger for the next championship round.”

Team Afrox thanks its sponsors; Afrox, BMW M Performance Parts, Castrol and Akropovic Exhaust systems for their commitment to Team Afrox BMW.

The BMW 335i race car will compete again in the Wesbank Super Series race meeting on 28 April 2012 at the Aldo Scribante Race Circuit in Port Elizabeth. For more information visit www.teamafrox.co.za orwww.facebook.com/teamafrox