Warren Lombard’s took a podium finish in his first appearance at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit to secure fourth place on the points table in the Mobil 1 V8 Supercars season finale this past weekend (February 3-5).
Heading into the weekend, he was leading Terry Wilford by one point in the battle for fourth place and had to contend with handling difficulties in Thursday practice sessions, but the team improved their set-up throughout the day. Despite overnight rain, Friday morning’s qualifying session saw him setting the fourth-fastest time.
A severe storm arrived before the start of the weekend’s first race on Friday afternoon and due to the circuit being flooded, the race was called off. Instead, Saturday morning’s race saw two laps added and becoming a double-points affair.
While the battle for the title heated up in the early stages of Saturday morning’s race, Lombard delivered a level-headed performance and gained two positions on his way to securing fourth place.
“We knew what we had to do coming into this weekend and we achieved our goal “said Lombard. “Whatever happened, we needed to stay ahead of Terry. It was close between us in Thursday’s timed sessions and fortunately, we were able to resolve our handling problems as well. I felt very positive after Qualifying. I think things became a bit uncertain for all of us before Friday’s race as well as directly after the cancellation as crucial sessions for the Intercontinental GT Challenge were also cancelled. But we got to race on Saturday morning in a real double-or-nothing scenario. I kept my composure as I knew there was no way to upset the standings at the front. I kept my focus on putting in some solid laps and we ended the weekend with a podium. Thank you to everyone who made our second season such a successful one, we will only push onward from here.”
Warren Lombard would like to thank PepBoys Automotive, Hi Tech Mag Repairs and Gavin Wilkins Racing for making his 2022 motorsport campaign possible.
The Mobil 1 V8 Supercars next take to the track on 22 & 23 April where they will compete in the second round of their 2022 championship at Zwartkops Raceway.
Produced and distributed by Brandsponential on behalf of Warren Lombard
