BMW won the final battle, but lost the war in the 2013 SA Production Car championship. The ninth and final round of the Super Series at Kyalami on November 2 saw all three races - two six-lap sprints and a 12-lap feature race - won by BMWs, with the first six-lapper taken by Johan Fourie, and the second by Etienne van der Linde, who went on to win the final tussle of the year.
The starting grid took a dramatic turn when the Minis - which had qualified first and second in class T 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 Gary Formato and his Ford Focus into pole position, followed by The Volkswagen Golf of Graeme Nathan, who thus started in a very strong position to retain his Class T title.
In Class A, Melvill Priest continued his recent form with a flyer that put his Audi S4 comfortably clear of the Fourie's 335i with the second row occupied by Hennie Groenewald - unhappy with the brakes of his Subaru - and Etienne van der Linde in the second 'works' BMW.
RACE 1
With the muttering and pontificating regarding practice times done, things got underway, and Fourie made the most of the BMW's straight-line speed to power past Priest down to the first corner and disappear into the distance. By the end of lap one Priest had dropped to third, the Groenewald Subaru passing the Audi on the old pit straight.
Reigning champion Stephen had a miserable race, holing his Audi's radiator early on, and going slower and slower as the race went on and his coolant temperature rose.
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 power-steering problem that made the car unpredictable. Nathan got past on lap four of the six, and took the flag, just over half-a-second clear. Michael van Rooyen in the Chevrolet Cruze finished a distant third, holding off the Renault Megane of Devin Robertson, until a tyre problem slowed him.
RACE 2
The first six grid places were reversed for the second sprint, putting Van der Linde on pole in Class A, and still with the tiniest chance of taking the title. He timed the rolling start perfectly to storm away, setting the fastest lap of the race en route to the chequered flag.
An enthralling three-way fight ensued for second place, with Gennaro Bonafede's immaculate Ferodo Audi leading Priest and Groenewald, with Fourie and Stephen closing in - until Bonafede went from second to fourth after an off-track excursion and then dropped back to sixth.
In another impressive display, Stephen got past Fourie and, as the field came to the line on the final lap, Priest sportingly slowed to allow Stephen past to secure third and nail down the title. It wasn't the only sporting gesture of the day; Stephen was in fact driving team-mate Tjchops Sipuka's car, his own Audi stlll dribbling coolant on the garage floor.
CLASS T
Formato and Nathan enjoyed another good duel, until the Focus suffered a tyre failure; after class T ended up being an all-VW affair as the orange Golf GTis finished first and second, Nathan also slowing on the final straight to let his young understudy - Jacques 'The Stiglet' Joubert - past. Third went to the Golf of Ryan Cooper - until it was discovered that his engine was overboosting, which promoted Lee Thompson to third, as Cronje's Mini was already back in the pits with a mechanical gremlin.
With the second six-lapper done and dusted, so too was the 2013 championship: Stephen had his third title in the bag, and Nathan had successfully defended his.
FEATURE RACE
The 12-lapper was a grandstand finish to the series; only honour was at stake but no one seemed to drive any more carefully as a result, with the red, blue and white 335i under constant attack from Bonafede as the Audi driver tried every trick in the book (and a few that weren't) to get by.
Bonafede wasn't the only driver having a go at the BMW though; Groenewald and Priest also had a close look at the BMW's back bumper, but a look was all they got. It was saloon car racing at its finest, with an exceptional level of skill on display and some give-and-take being exercised, with a bit of paint and rubber being exchanged in a fitting finale to South Africa's high-tech production car formula.
And while all this was going on, newly-crowned champion Stephen was sneaking closer, picking off cars one at a time. On the very last lap he moved into second place, to end his year of a high. Priest, who reckoned he was in with a shout for overall victory, was slowed by a power-steering problem, almost losing out on the final lap to Tjchops Sipuka in the second 'official' Audi.
Groenewald also had car issues in the latter stages, but still described the race - and the meeting in general - as one of the best he'd ever been involved in.
The Class T battle was one of attrition; 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.
ROLLERCOASTER MINIS
The award for drive of the day should arguably go to teenager Jacques Joubert, who brought his VW Golf6 GTI to the finish largely without incident in all three races, and was rewarded with overall victory. A third in the main event, a win in the second sprint and sixth in the first 6-lapper, when track debris jammed a rear brake calliper) also secured third place in the championship for the year.
But the feature race was all about the Minis; they'd had a rollercoaster day, with both cars experiencing issues throughout the afternoon, but it all came good in the finale, and the Minis 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.
Formato and Robertson pitted to change tyres, while Nathan opted to stay out and soldier on at reduced pace - an approach that netted him fifth in class T.
VOLKSWAGEN CUP
The final round of the series Engen Volkswagen Cup featured two guest drivers, two female drivers who leave for Europe soon as part of an international development programme, a new series champion and two battles for podium standings - second and third in the championship and the decider in the Masters season.
Twenty-year-old Nicolaj Möller Madsen came out from Europe - where he finished second in the Scirocco R-Cup series - at the invitation of the driver who beat him, South African teenager Kelvin van der Linde, who was Volkswagen Cup champion in 2012.
It was a bit of a culture shock for the Dane.
“This was my first experience in a right-hand drive car,” he said, “also without ABS or a racing diff.
“Even the tyres are very different; the tyres we use in Europe will last about two sessions, these you race on the whole day and they are still good. This is a very basic car compared to what we race, but it has been a great experience.
“When Kelvin and Jordan Pepper arrived in Europe they were fast, and now I know why - if you can drive this car fast, you can drive any car fast.
“This is very different to racing in Europe. There we have a lot of respect for each other, here you get into the first corner and there are cars everywhere! I came out of that corner third from last, then had to fight my way back.”
CHARACTER-BUILDING EXPERIENCE
Motoring journalist Thomas Falkiner was invited to contest the final three rounds of this season. His first outing at Zwartkops proved a tough introduction to the series but Falkiner progressed to a better performance at Killarney and improved to the point of winning the Masters category in the first race at Kyalami.
“This was a real eye-opener,” he admitted. “I always thought they were easy to drive and anybody could just hop in and do well.
“As a V8 driver I thought I would do well off the bat - but after that first meeting I was ready to throw in the towel!
“I'm glad now that I didn't. It was a fun way to experience a formula I didn't know too much about, to learn just hard the cars are to drive and what it takes from a skill point of view to squeeze the most out of them.”
RACE 1
Etienne du Toit couldn't finish the first race while Masters title rival Eddie Rodrigues just managed to make it to the end, completing enough of laps to claim points - which saw them start the final race of the season tied on points.
Rodrigues was in a commanding position throughout most of the race, until oil on the track saw him slow down rather than risk not finishing, while an oil leak on Du Toit's gearbox saw his car fill with smoke, forcing him to slow and allowing Rodrigues to finish the day unchallenged and claim the Masters title by a single point.
Volkswagen Cup racers Tasmin Pepper and Robyn Kruger have been selected for the Scirocco R-Cup evaluation in Germany as part of the Women in Motorsport Commission promotion of women in racing. Pepper and Kruger are two of 12 female racers from 11 countries selected to take part; South Africa is the only country with two racers accepted for the trial.