Fiat Abarth Racing claimed a double victory at this weekend’s Bridgestone South African Production Car event at Kyalami. This was the fifth round of the series this year and also its second visit to the former home circuit of the South African Grand Prix, having visited the famous track for the season opener in early March.

Trevor Tuck and Theunis Eloff, piloting their respective 1.9-litre turbodiesel Fiat Grande Puntos, took a win each in Class C and furthered their championship aspirations in the Junior Production Car title chase. Tuck had a clear run in heat 1 emerging as the class victor ahead of Robi Beninca (BTS VW CitiGolf), Mark Silverwood (OKI Ford Fiesta), Etienne Prinsloo (Bizhub VW Polo TDI) and Jason Thornton (Global Car Rental Ford Ikon). Eloff’s race however was cut short with a turbo problem.

Race two saw Eloff take charge of proceedings scoring the team's second victory for the day. He led home Silverwood, Thornton, Tuck and Beninca, with Beninca having the consolation of setting a new Class C lap record. Tuck meanwhile had got caught up in the aftermath of a race incident and damaged a front wheel, he recovered though to take fourth place.

"It was a great day for the team, with both Theunis and I able to score points," said Tuck. "I managed to gain a lot of ground in the championship, as my nearest rival Robi Beninca didn’t score points in either race.
 

"I think I could have finished higher up in the second race but I got caught up in the tail end of another incident and one of the class A cars clipped me," continued Tuck. "Even though my car was damaged I was able to continue to circulate taking fourth place and scoring some valuable points."

"I’m delighted with the results of the day," commented Eloff. "I was looking strong in heat 1 and was confident of a top three finish however a suspected turbo problem put an end to my chase. The team did a great job getting the car ready for heat two and the car performed immaculately. I had bit of a scare towards the end of the race as Beninca lost control of his car and collected the side of my car. Thankfully the impact had no permanent effects and I continued on to take a memorable victory. Thanks again to the team for all their hard work."

The next round of this year’s Bridgestone South African Production Car Championship will take place at the Western Cape Killarney circuit on Saturday, August 4. A further four rounds will take place before the series wraps up at Kyalami on 24th November.