Glenn Inkster is happy with his return to circuit racing after more than ten years away as he took sixth place at the opening round of the V8 Challenge Cup, held at Hampton downs over the weekend.
Driving the John McIntyre Racing prepared TransNet Ford Falcon, Inkster only drove the car for the first time during Friday’s two testing session and made good progess as he cut three seconds off his best lap time between the two sessions.
Saturday morning started out with qualifying and Inkster’s improvement continued, the former rally star who finished fourth in last year’s New Zealand Rally Championship, setting the sixth fastest time in the session. The session carried double importance with points up for grabs and determining race one grids.
Things continued to get better in race one as Inkster came from sixth on the grid but had moved up to fifth place by the end of the opening lap. After looking for a way up to fourth, he eventually moved past on the sixth lap of ten and proceeded to open up a gap of three second across the next four laps.
Sunday saw a further two races, however the first race saw Inkster made a few mistakes that resulted in several small off track excursions, relegating Inkster to seventh at race end.
The third and final race of the weekend saw Inkster starting in sixth place and after some swapping of positions, came home in the same place, giving him enough points to take sixth place for the round.
“It was a fantastic weekend, I had a blast,” said Inkster. “Obviously it wasn’t ideal not having driven the car before Friday but Johnny Mac and his team did a fantastic and professional job and I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel, especially when we come back to Hampton Downs for round three.”
Before the next round of the series, to be held at Manfeild in the Manawatu on April 27-29, Inkster will complete a test day at Taupo race track, but before that all his attention is focused on the upcoming Targa Bambina, held in the Auckland and Coromandel regions on March 17-18. Inkster will again drive the TransNet Mitsubishi Evo 6.5 that took him to victory in the same event last year.
