Audi fans say goodbye to a legendary team: Johan Fourie Racing

By Johan Laubscher

For many in South Africa the Bridgestone Production Cars is seen as the top category of racing in the country. In recent years many of the country’s top teams and drivers have battled for this prestigious crown. One of the most successful teams in this series is Johan Fourie Racing with their Audi race cars. Today the sad news has arrived that the team will be closing its doors. The news comes after a very difficult season for the team who suffered set back after set back, through no fault of their own. The news is a shock to both Audi fans and fans of the sport. This team and their fighting spirit will be missed by everyone.

The team came from various other forms of South African motorsport which also included multiple Websank V8 championship titles. The team and their star driver, Johan Fourie joined the Production Cars ranks in 2006 with an Audi A4 3.2 quattro. The team used 2007 as a learning year and came back fighting in 2008 by winning the Class A title. Johan made it a back to back success as he stormed to the 2009 championship title as well. 2010 and onwards was to be a testing time for Johan Fourie Racing. With the introduction of new cars from the competitors during 2010, the old normally aspirated Audi A4 cars could not keep up with the new turbo charged BMW cars. 2010 was a white wash for the BMW team with Johan suffering many issues during the season. 2011 was headlined as the year that the Audi S4 B8 cars would debut in the series, to take the fight to the mighty BMW 335i cars.

The two Audi teams (JFR and Terry Moss Racing) worked flat out in order to prepare the cars for the season opener, but both teams missed the deadline. The old Audi A4 cars were used at the first round. Terry Moss Racing had their cars ready before JFR and they showed the pace of the new cars at the following rounds. Johan Fourie was stuck with his old car until the fourth round of the series. He did very well with the old car, but could not match the pace of all the new cars. At round four his new Audi S4 was ready and took a debut win in the endurance event.

Round five of the season and Fourie was on fire at Aldo Scribante. He scorched to three wins from four and rocketed himself back into the title hunt (see videos bellow). By the end of the season he was at the top of the log heading to the final round. Sadly luck deserted him at the finale as the title slipped though his fingers with various problems outside of his control. This was the beginning of the end for the team.

The team was focused on the 2012 season when they lost their main sponsor. Without the sponsor the team had to withdraw from the opening round of the championship. It was a very sad sight not to see the JFR Audi S4 at the event.

With sponsor talks continuing an agreement was reached and Johan Fourie was back for round two in Cape Town. Johan put on a massive showing for his home town fans as he took two victories on the day, proving he and the team deserve to be in Class A. Following the event his sponsor withdrew for a second time. With this occurrence JFR sourced another sponsor  and his Audi S4 was seen in plain white colour at the next event, after his previous long time sponsor’s orange colour had been removed.

The rest of the 2012 season was littered with bad luck for Johan Fourie. The two rounds that followed saw various retirements, including a weekend ending practice crash in Durban. The crash in Durban was in no way Johan Fourie’s fault. Another car crashed into the S4 as Johan was waiting for a clear moment to return to the track. The Audi S4 was heavily damaged and so was JFR’s season.

Just over a month later, a few days before round six of the series the sad news broke cover. Johan Fourie Racing would be closing its doors and Johan Fourie would be taking a sabbatical from Motorsport. Very sad news for Johan’s many fans, both in South Africa and internationally.

Johan Fourie Racing is one of the most successful South African teams, a team everyone has gotten use to seeing at every event, and at the front of those events. Not seeing this team and their truck in the paddock will be a hard fact to swallow.

The fans say thank you to JFR for many years of great racing, the team and its driver will be sorely missed.

Round 5 of the 2011 season saw Johan Fourie at his very best. He absolutely dominated the race weekend in his Audi S4. The race highlights from that round are included bellow. It is exactly this drive and pace from Johan Fourie Racing that we will all miss on future race days.

 

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011 Audi A4

2011 Audi S4

2012

All images are hosted at motorpics.co.za

Dismal weekend for Fourie‏ Audi S4 at Zwartkops

Johan Fourie Racing Press Release


Round four of the WesBank Super Series is one that Johan Fourie would rather forget. His new look EPS Audi S4 may have looked the part, but bad luck plagued the team during all three Bridgestone Production Car races at Zwartkops Raceway.

At the start of the weekend, the first thing that fans noticed was the change of sponsorship. IndyOil has once again left the team who took two Bridgestone Production Car Class A titles under their banner. Thankfully, EPS Couriers stepped up to the plate and helped the team make the trip to Pretoria.

“It has been very disappointing to lose a sponsor who we believed were happy to be part of the team. EPS Couriers have been a sponsor of Johan Fourie Racing for many years, in fact from the start of our Production Car quest. They are definitely part of the family and we are very proud and thankful to have been able to run in EPS colours this weekend,” commented Johan.

The on again off again sponsorship situation left the team with little time to prepare the Audi S4 and it was clear that the pressure got to the team in the end.

Friday was tough after the crew spent the entire night rebranding the car and truck, but things started to look brighter when Johan managed to set the fourth quickest time in the final practice session.

This trend did not however carry into Saturdays qualifying when issues with the ABS destroyed Johan’s flying lap, leaving the Capetonian in a very low ninth place.

In true fighting style, Johan lined up for the first race ready to gain some positions. He managed to make up one place during the race, but damage to his S4’s suspension badly hampered his progress. He eventually finished eighth.
On quick examination between the two races, the team saw that the lower control arm was broken and whilst Johan started race two, he retired on the second lap, unable to drive with the damage.

Not setting a lap time in the second race meant that Johan had to start the final race from the back of the field. Johan started to make headway through the field when can reached Etienne van der Linde (BMW). The two spent a lap racing side by side before the BMW driver squeezed Johan off the circuit coming onto the main straight. Johan used every ounce of the Audi’s legendary Quattro abilities, but clipped the tyre barrier before recovering and returning to the circuit. Johan drove his heart out, but was too far behind to make up any meaningful ground. He ended ninth.

“Thank you to EPS and our fans for the tremendous support over the weekend. It’s is a pity we weren’t able to do better, but we can only move forward from here,” concluded Johan.

The next round of the championship will take place in Durban on 16 and 17 June. 



More Information:
Johan Fourie Racing website
Johan Fourie Racing FB page
MotorPics


Photos hosted at Motorpics

Tough weekend for Fourie in PE (Audi S4)

Johan Fourie Racing Press Release  

TOUGH WEEKEND FOR FOURIE IN PE

After taking home two Bridgestone Production Car wins in Cape Town, Johan Fourie was looking forward to much of the same at the second round of the WesBank Super Series held at Aldo Scribante this past weekend. Unfortunately, this was not meant to be.

Friday's practice sessions looked promising and Johan managed to set a great time in qualifying. A time that would have put him on the front row of the grid. The team were however confronted with a huge problem that put the boost pressure of their Audi S4 above the allowed limit. A problem that did not present itself on Friday. Johan, together with two other competitors were moved to the back of the grid for this technical infringement.

After making some mapping changes, the team were ready for the first race, albeit concerned about their pace and the reason for the sudden boost anomaly. The rolling start did not give Johan any advantage over the rear wheel drive BMWs, but he managed to move into seventh place by the end of the first lap. Two laps later, he was into sixth. He drove hard to keep up with the BMWs, but was unable to improve his position.

Johan did not benefit from a reversed grid after only the top four finishers were inverted for the race two rolling start. He had a good start and was up to fifth place by the end of the first lap. The racing was close and three laps from the end, Johan saw an opportunity to pass Anthony Taylor, he executed the move and made it stick taking the flag fourth.

The final race grid was determined by the fastest race two lap times. This put Johan fourth on the grid for the standing start. The Audi got off the line well and Johan moved up to third. Going into turn one however, he found himself being squeezed by Etienne van der Linde (BMW). The two touched and van der Linde spun in front of Johan. This allowed stablemate Tschops Sipuka to get through and into third. Johan held onto fourth place for the remaining 14 laps.

"It was a difficult weekend filled with unexpected problems which we will need to rectify before the next race. The boost will be lower at altitude, but we are very concerned that we may have a problem with our ECU. I was going for the race win, but at the end of the day, we still took some points home and got to race. It could have been worse," commented Johan.


"Once again, the support from our fans has been amazing. Thank you for your support," he concluded.


The team will be back in action at Zwartkops on 26 May. 


More Information:
Johan Fourie Racing website
Johan Fourie Racing FB page
MotorPics


Photos hosted at Motorpics

Audi S4 quattro racers ready for PE charge‏ (South Africa)

Press Release from Audi South Africa

THE Port Elizabeth round of the WesBank Super Series will see the Audi S4 quattro racers embroiled in a serious battle for honours. Round two saw all four Audi S4 quattro cars compete together for the first time and Scribante will be just the second opportunity for race fans to see this spectacle for themselves.

For defending Bridgestone Production Car Class A champion Michael Stephen (A1 – Engen Xtreme / Tsogo Sun), the PE round is an important part of his championship as it is his opportunity to compete in front of his home crowd. Stephen wrested the championship title from fellow Audi S4 quattro competitor Johan Fourie (A9 – EPS / IndyOil) at the end of last season, but Fourie is determined to fight back this year.

While Fourie is a Capetonian, his Audi S4 Quattro “lives” in PE and is prepared there. This means that Scribante is also his home track and where he does the bulk of his testing. Two Audi S4 quattros that consider PE to be there home ground is daunting enough for the opposition, but there are three Audi S4 quattros that hail from the friendly city.

Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme / Tsogo Sun), teammate to Stephen, is also a Port Elizabethan and that makes a trio of Audi S4 quattros that have a very specific knowledge of the circuit – and a claim to homeground advantage. This is not going to make it easy for their opposition.

Factor into this equation Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sport Medicine) who slid in behind the wheel of his Audi S4 quattro for this first time at the start of the 2012 season. Priest has indicated that he does not have quite the pace of the other teams as the development of his race car is a year behind the Audi S4 quattros.

The points don't seem to indicate any lack of pace on Priest's part though as he is currently the second highest scoring Audi S4 quattro entry this year, second only to the defending champion Stephen.

In fact, the Audi S4 quattro entries currently hold consecutive positions in the championship overall, fourth to seventh. This is quite an achievement considering Priest only started with his Audi S4 quattro this season and that Fourie missed the first round of the year completely!

Race fans in Port Elizabeth can look forward to serious action as this quartet of Audi S4 quattro racers push hard for honours and their opposition is going to be under serious pressure trying to keep up.

Audi South Africa

Photos hosted at www.motorpics.co.za

More information:

Audi South Africa

Audi Motorsport in South Africa FB page

Unofficial Audi Sport FB page

Bridgestone Production Cars Website

Bridgestone Production Cars FB page

FOURIE HOPES FOR FAVOURABLE CONDITIONS IN PE (Audi S4)

Johan Fourie Racing Press Release



Johan Fourie will be a man on a mission at round three of the WesBank Super Series as he tries to reduce the points deficit between himself and the other Bridgestone Production Car Championship contenders.

Johan is no stranger to Aldo Scribante, putting in many hours of testing in his team’s home town. Whilst his knowledge of the circuit will work in his favour, he will still face some tough opposition.

During the 2012 season, the category made two trips to Aldo Scribante. Michael Stephen (Audi S4) matched Johan in race victories, with each driver claiming three race wins. The other two wins went to Subaru’s Hennie Groenewald. These results indicate that Stephen is likely to be the man to beat, but there is yet another hurdle. The results don’t show what kind of pace the newly launched F30 BMW 335is will have and if the Killarney results are anything to go by, the BMWs will be right on pace.

“It is definitely going to be a challenging weekend with some strong competition. We can’t afford to make any mistakes. At the same time however, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain with a strong set of results. I don’t think I am going to play this one conservatively,” remarked Johan.

As per the 2012 regulations, the pole sitter in all three races can choose whether the race with begin from a standing or rolling start. A standing start together with the tight, twisty nature of the circuit will really swing the results in favour of the four wheel drive cars.

“We always have spectacular racing in PE and I urge all motorsport fans not to miss the action on 28 April,” he concluded.
For more information, please visit www.johanfourieracing.co.za or follow the team on FaceBook (www.facebook.com/JohanFourieRacing) 

Photos by Motorpics (http://www.motorpics.co.za/)

More Information:
Johan Fourie Racing website
Johan Fourie Racing FB page
MotorPics

Johan Fourie - Johan Fourie Racing Audi S4

Nieyaaz Modack - Johan Fourie Racing Audi A4

Audi S4 quattro quartet a force in the Cape‏

Press Release from Audi South Africa

THERE are now four Audi S4 quattros competing in the Bridgestone Production Car championship – and Killarney was the venue for this quartet to compete for the first time. The event was round two of the WesBank Super Series which took place in Cape Town on Saturday.

The four cars are made up of defending Bridgestone Production Car class A champion Michael Stephen (A1 – Engen Xtreme / Southern Sun), Stephen's Engen Xtreme teammate Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme / Southern Sun), the Mueller Sport Medicine Audi S4 quattro of Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sport Medicine) and the EPS / IndyOil entry of Johan Fourie (A9 – EPS / IndyOil).

Fourie missed the first round of the championship held at Zwartkops Raceway but appeared determined to make up for it with his Cape Town performance. Fourie kicked off the event with the fastest qualifying performance in the championship, closely followed by Stephen.

Priest and Sipuka qualified seventh and eighth with Priest's team having to do quite a bit of work on his Audi S4 quattro after it was damaged during the practise sessions. A great deal of work later Priest described the car's handling as acceptable but not optimal. It didn't seem to slow him down much though.

In the first race Fourie kept up the performance of his qualifying session to claim the race victory with Stephen right behind him. Here Priest raced home to fifth place with Sipuka one place back. Race two again showed Fourie to be unstoppable in his charge for points and he claimed the chequered flag for a second time. Stephen crossed the finish line for fourth with Sipuka in seventh and Priest unable to complete the race – he missed a gear (second gear) on the start which allowed Stephen to pass. Brief contact between the pair resulted in a broken steering arm which meant Priest had to pull off and could not complete the race.

Race three saw Priest back on form, crossing the line for third with Stephen in fourth. Sipuka finished in ninth place but Fourie had to settle for 13^th when the bonnet clips on his Audi S4 quattro snapped after contact with Stephen earlier in the race. The result was that his bonnet flew open, obscuring his view and smashing his windscreen and roof in the process.

Overall for the day Stephen claimed third place with Sipuka in fifth, Fourie sixth and Priest in eighth. The Audi S4 quattros will contest round three of the WesBank Super Series at Aldo Scribante Raceway in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, 28 April.

Audi South Africa

Photos hosted at www.motorpics.co.za

More information:

Audi South Africa

Audi Motorsport in South Africa FB page

Unofficial Audi Sport FB page

Bridgestone Production Cars Website

Bridgestone Production Cars FB page

Johan Fourie - Audi S4 (Johan Fourie Racing)

Michael Stephen - Audi S4 (Terry Moss Racing)

Tschops Sipuka - Audi S4 (Terry Moss Racing)

Melvil Priest - Audi S4 (VMP Motorsport)

Nieyaaz Modack - Audi A4 (Private ex-Johan Fourie Racing A4)

SA Bridgestone Production Cars and the Audi teams returning to Durban streets

2007 Durban Race

By Johan Laubscher

The South African Bridgestone Production Cars championship has provided many action packed race days for the South African fans. With some of the best drivers and teams in the country battling it out on track. The series will have a street race in Durban this year. The event will be part of the Top Gear Festival which will be held on a constructed street circuit in Durban during June 2012. The closing weekend of the festival will see a round of the Wesbank Super Series, of which the Bridgestone Productions Cars is a part of. Seeing the grid of Audis, BMWs, Subarus and the lower classes racing round a tight street circuit will be spectacular.

2012 Top Gear Festival Durban street track

This will not be the first time the series has graced the streets of Durban. In 2007, as part of the A1GP event in Durban on a street circuit, some of the national championships were invited as support events. The Bridgestone Production Cars was one of these series, and the racing it provided was spectacular. The cars battling and sliding around the twisty track made for a great spectacle which can be seen in the videos bellow.

The date for the race weekend is set for June 16. It remains to be seen how similar the 2012 race will  be to the 2007 A1GP race, but one thing is guaranteed, the racing will be close and fast.


A total of five Audis are entered for the event, which includes four Audi S4 B8 race cars and one Audi A4 B7 3.2.

Photos hosted at Motorpics.co.za and TopGearFestival.co.za

More information:
MotorPics

Audi South Africa

Audi Motorsport in South Africa FB page

Unofficial Audi Sport FB page

Bridgestone Production Cars Website

Bridgestone Production Cars FB page

Top Gear Festival

Footage from the 2007 Durban races:

2007 Bridgestone Production Cars at Durban Race 1

2007 Bridgestone Production Cars at Durban Race 2

2007 Durban Race - Shaun Watson Smith - Terry Moss Racing Audi A4

2007 Durban Race - Melvil Priest - VMP Motorsport Audi A4

2007 Durban Race - Johan Fourie - Johan Fourie Racing Audi A4

Audi S4 quattros ready for Killarney racing action‏

Press Release from Audi South Africa

THE Audi S4 quattros sprang into action this season – which got the 2012 season off to an exciting start at Zwartkops Raceway. Michael Stephen (A1 – Engen Xtreme / Southern Sun) got into the swing of things from the outset by posting the fastest qualifying time for the Bridgestone Production Cars.

In the process Stephen claimed three bonus points – the highest number available for any one qualifying position. This helped put Stephen at the head of the Audi S4 quattro field of three of these thoroughbred race cars in competition in the WesBank Super Series.

With Stephen leading the trio, he is followed by his teammate Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme / Southern Sun) and the Audi S4 quattro of Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sport Medicine). The three Audi S4 quattros hold positions four, five and six of class A of the Bridgestone Production Car championship.

Priest joined the Audi marque from the start of this season and has some work to do yet to make his brand new Audi S4 quattro perform on par with the rest of the field. The first outing was still good enough to place him in the top two-thirds of the field.

Round two at Killarney will see the return of Johan Fourie (A9 - IndyOil / EPS) to the field. Fourie did not compete at the opening event of the season as he had still not finalised his sponsor for the year. With this resolved, he will make it to round two – and compete in front of his home crowd.

With Fourie's Audi S4 quattro added to the mix, a quartet of thundering thoroughbred power will thrill the Cape Town crowd and the second round of the WesBank Super Series is sure to be a spectacular event.

Audi South Africa

Photos hosted at www.motorpics.co.za

More information:

Audi South Africa

Audi Motorsport in South Africa FB page

Unofficial Audi Sport FB page

Bridgestone Production Cars Website

Bridgestone Production Cars FB page

Michael Stephen - Audi S4 (Terry Moss Racing)

Tschops Sipuka - Audi S4 (Terry Moss Racing)

Melvil Priest - Audi S4 (VMP Motorsport)

Johan Fourie - Audi S4 (Johan Fourie Racing)

  

Nieyaaz Modack - Audi A4 (Private ex-Johan Fourie Racing A4)