With the pairing of Andy Knight & Daniel Gaunt lining up in Triple X Motorsport’s Porsche 997 GT3, they would always be hard to beat, however the hybrids struck the first blow with the Supra powered Corolla Levin of Toyota dealers Craig McDermid & Peter Swaney clinching pole with a blistering time ahead of Knight/Gaunt. “It’s the first time ever we have put on new tyres for qualifying and with the car on minimal fuel I got a good run through the traffic & I could tell it was a really fast lap” said McDermid after setting the time. Another car to perform exceptionally well in qualifying was the 2 litre BMW of Dunedin paring Good/Black who qualified a very impressive 10th overall but unfortunately clutch problems late in the first qualifying session forced the car out for the day.
With the race cautioned from the startline through the first few turns the Gaunt/Knight car blasted past the Corolla heading up the back straight into the lead as did the Carter/Carter V8 Supercar the Kelly/Elvy 997 GT3 & the McFarlane/Bushell 996 GT3. Again the first casualty of the race was the BMW SuperTourer of Dale & Alan Chapman, and although they had only marginally better luck than at Ruapuna, they were out after lap one.
The Carter/Carter V8 Supercar struck problems early and it was forced into the pits after only 15 minutes after making heavy contact with the Laughton/West Evo 6 which was pulling into pit lane for a mechanical black flag. The Supercar limped back to the pits with frontal damage & a flat tyre and lost many laps whilst repairs were undertaken. Although it rejoined the race well down the field, it also started to suffer from engine problems as it manoeuvred its way back up the field.
Another top car back in the pack early on was the Jody Vincent/Mike Morton 996 GT3 which seemed to struggle for early race pace. With the Knight/Gaunt car pulling away, a good battle ensued behind the leader with the Kelly/Elvy & McFarlane/Bushell cars having a good dice followed by the pole sitters Swaney/McDermid fourth, Trev Parmenter’s 996 GT3 5th and then the Cliff/Knighton & O’Donnell/Higgins 996 GT3’s.
After a short safety car coming up to the one hour mark to retrieve the stricken Supra/Altezza of George McFarlane that stopped with diff problems, there was contact at the restart between the Dippie/Stewart 996 GT3 & the Petrie/Petrie WRX and with the field bunched up that resulted in a nose to tail incident involving at least 5 cars, fortunately everyone was able to continue, albeit some cars with heavy battle scars.
As the race approached the half way mark the class 2 leading turbo Altezza of Head/McDermid retired with gearbox problems and not long after pole sitters McDermid/Swaney also retired with drivetrain problems as did the Parmenter/Driver GT3. Meantime the Morton/Vincent car with Porsche frontrunner Vincent now at the wheel was making steady progress towards the front of the field.
With only 15 minutes to run in the race there was another safety car period to recover the Carter/Carter V8 Supercar that lost a wheel rounding the fast corner off the end of the back straight. This bunched the field up for a sprint to the flag, but the Knight/Gaunt car was already 3 laps ahead and took a fine victory over their Triple X Motorsport Team-mates Vincent/Morton who climbed back through the field to claim 2nd place ahead of McFarlane/Bushell in 3rd who were in turn just ahead of Kelly/Elvy who finished 4th. Other class winners were 0-1600cc Black/Hepburn (Civic) and 13th overall; 1601-2000cc, and an excellent 10th overall, Leonard/Parker (Mk1 Escort) & 2001-3500cc Ball/Milligan (WRX) with 8th overall.
Surprisingly after the wicked pace at Ruapuna where both the race lap & race distance records were smashed, the Gaunt/Knight car managed to lowered the lap record by a mere one tenth of a second to 1.04.107 and finished 5 laps short of the race record set in 2006.
The third and final round of the ASKO Appliance South Island Endurance Series is to be held at Teretonga on 12th April. Both the overall & class championships are still far from decided with no less than 12 cars that could still win the overall series and all the class championships are equally as wide open. With the series positions hanging in the balance it will mean that finishing at Teretonga will be imperative however some cars & team will be racing to finish & other will be racing for pride. At the Teretonga circuit that is well known for taking no prisoners.
Levels Results
1st Knight/Gaunt – 997 GT3 – 154 laps
2nd Morton/Vincent – 996 GT3 – 151 laps
3rd McFarlane/Bushell – 996 GT3 – 150 laps
4th Kelly/Elvy – 997 GT3 – 150 laps
5th O’Donnell/Higgins – 996 GT3 – 147 laps
6th Cliff/Knighton – 996 GT3 – 146 laps
7th Davidson/Garden – Corvette C5 – 145 laps
8th Ball/Milligan – Subaru WRX – 143 laps
9th Dippie/Stewart – 996 GT3 – 143 laps
10th Leonard/Parker – Mk1 Escort – 140 laps
ASKO Appliances Overall Series points
1st Daniel Gaunt – 997 GT3 – 70 points
2nd Morton/Vincent – 996 GT3 – 57 points
3rd = McFarlane/Bushell – 996 GT3 – 49 points
3rd = Kelly/Elvy – 997 GT3 – 49 points
ASKO Appliances Class 1
1st Morton/Vincent – 996 GT3 – 57 points
2nd = McFarlane/Bushell – 996 GT3 – 49 points
2nd = Kelly/Elvy – 997 GT3 - 49 points
4th Andrew Higgins – 996 GT3 – 47 points
Hagley Building Products Class 2
1st Ball/Milligan – Subaru WRX – 65 points
2nd John Petrie – Subaru WRX – 57 points
3rd Judd/Whiting – Porsche Boxster – 50 points
Southern Finance Ltd Class 3
1st McLean/Hurley – Integra – 65 points
2nd A’Court/McConnochie - Integra – 51 points
3rd Beatson/Ransley – Renault Megane - 48 points
McFarlane Group Developments Class 4
1st Black/Hepburn – Civic – 70 points
2nd Sinclair/Ham – Peugeot – 60 points
3rd Carmody/Tallett – Corolla – 32 points
