Photo: Carter's V8 SupercarThe ASKO Appliances South Island Endurance Series roars into life at Teretonga Park in Invercargill this Saturday with some of the fastest Endurance cars in the country set to do battle in the first Round of the ASKO Appliances SI Endurance Series. The series had a false start, at what was supposed to be their opening round, at Powerbuilt Ruapuna on ‘Christchurch Earthquake Day’ 4th September and this race has now been rescheduled to November 27th and will now be the final round, rather then the opening round of the ASKO Endurance Series.
The interruption in the series has worked in favor of some competitors & against others. The most notable being the Carter/Carter V8 Supercar BA Falcon that was a very late withdrawal from the Ruapuna round due to engine issues, but the two week delay has given them a lifeline and they will be working hard to make the Teretonga grid. The opposite has happened for the immaculate Ferrari F430 of Tim O’Connor who will now miss the opening round, but will be back for Round 2 of the Series at Levels Raceway. Another who will benefit is last years 4 cylinder & Class 2 champions Dennis & Dale Chapman (BMW Supertourer) who’s entry was withdrawn from Ruapuna as Dennis was overseas & his replacement co-driver suffered a broken ankle. However with the revised date, they are also back in championship contention. It’s the earthquake that has upset Christchurch property developer Angus McFarlane’s plans for the debut of his newly repowered twin turbo Porsche GT3, as he will be spending race day removing bricks from his damaged Christchurch properties rather than tearing up the Teretonga circuit, and son Georges Supra powered Altezza is also a late withdrawal.
This is the only series in the world where you see a late model the Aussie V8 Supercar go head to head with a Porsche GT3 RSR, and these two cars are likely to be the pacesetters of both the Series and the prestigious Allied Lubricants GT class. Carter/Carter will be looking for a repeat of their 2010 Series win, whilst O’Donnell will be hunting his first SI Endurance Series Championship with home track advantage at this round. But the ASKO Appliances catch phrase “built to last”, will ring true as the old saying goes; to finish first, first you must finish and as per 2009, there will be plenty of other cars of all shapes & sizes capable of challenging for the Championship, and with double bonus points on offer it’s a very important round of the Series. The 2009 Series went down to the wire with a count back required to declare a winner after 3 teams all finished the series with the same points tally, and the top 5 covered by only 7 points after 3 rounds.
It is sure to be another great race for both overall and for individual class honors in each of the 5 different classes. The Allied Lubricants Class 1 (3501cc and above) is dominated by the Kiwi Hybrids in both V8 and Turbo guise and picking a class winner here will be impossible. 2008 Levels pole setter Craig McDermid teams up with Chris Henderson in his familiar green Twin Turbo Corolla while the Bruce Davidson/Dave Garden (Corvette C5) will again be looking for a strong run, along with series regulars John Wadsworth/Warren Croft (VY Commodore) and Aussie based competitor Perry Scarfe (427ci powered Falcon XR8 Ute), although the latter’s entry with the crowd pleasing GT Radials Ute is currently in doubt.
Some of the runners in the Hagley Aluminum Class 2 (2001cc -3500cc) could easily surprise with the quickest likely to be the Good/Black x-World Touring Car BMW, which has already proved to have the pace for the GT3’s, however with an increase to the 3.2 litre engine for 2010, if they can get its reliability sorted it will be a potential race winner. The Heagney/Head AE86 turbo also likely to be at the sharp end of this class if the race is dry, but the lone 4wd in the field being the Petrie/Petrie Subaru WRX will be looking for some elusive Teretonga rain. The popular Class 2 also includes entries from Helms/Bolland (BMW M3), Cliff/Knighton (Porsche Boxster), a Mini Challenge car from International Motorsports stable driven by series rookies Richard & Dan Bagnall and possibly a similar car from Black/Rusbatch should the V8 Ute not make the grid.
While it looks like Brent Beatson (Renault Megane Cup car) will be the only 3hr runner in the Hagley Aluminum Class 3 (0-2000cc) he should be involved in some good battles during the race as the race will also be the first Round of the ASKO One hour race series. The One Hour race series is designed specifically for Club type competitors to join in the fun of Endurance Racing, with the second and final round of this separate Series to be held at Levels Raceway, Timaru on October 2nd.
After the opening round at Teretonga, the ASKO Appliances SI Endurance Series moves to Levels Raceway in Timaru on 2nd October for separate 3hr & 1hr races, while the 3 hour Grand Finale will be at Christchurch’s Powerbuilt Ruapuna on Saturday 27th November, which will be at their Premiere Championship Series round.
The overall 3hr series champion will be awarded the ‘South Canterbury Toyota Cup’, plus the Club has been donated an original watercolor painting by High Country artist Norman Sinclair valued at approx. $10,000-00 which will be given away as a spot prize, along with many other prizes donated to the Club. The Club also distributes prize money throughout the five capacity based classes.
