Photo: Scott O'Donnell /Simon McLennan GT3After a very successful opening round at Teretonga last weekend there is no time to rest for competitors in the 2011 ASKO Appliances South Island Endurance Series as they prepare for their second Round at Powerbuilt Raceway, Ruapuna this weekend.
Fresh from a hard fought victory at Teretonga the Paul Kelly/Kevin Bell Porsche 997 GT3 is again likely to be amongst the front runners and this weekend and the Teretonga runner-up 997 GT3 will have a driver switch to Lindsay & Matt O’Donnell. Angus McFarlane/Michael Bushell will be looking for redemption with their hybrid twin turbo Porsche not making the start at Teretonga, whilst defending champions Allan Dippie/Grant Aitken will be looking for another solid placing. The GT class is joined by the magnificent Ferrari F430 that is doing double duty this weekend with car owner Tim O’Connor competing in the 1hr race, whilst young guns Sam McNeil & Craig Innes will share the car in the 3hr.
The 3501cc+ Class 1, will again see the Kiwi ‘hybrids’ battle for supremacy and with a strong finish rate in this class in Invercargill it was the RX7 V8 of Paul Rickerby/Graeme Rhodes taking Teretonga class honors, from the Bruce Davidson/Dave Garden Corvette, Perry Scarfe/Stu Black’s XR8 Ute and George McFarlane/Geoff Ball’s rapid Turbo Altezza. The NASCAR engined BA Falcon of Dean Perkins/Grant Silvester was the pace setter in the class, but was slowed with two punctures; however it may well be more suited to the fast Powerbuilt Ruapuna layout.
The 2001-3500cc Class 2 should again be a great battle and BMW’s dominate the current point’s standings. The factory cars of Brent Esler/Andy Neale & Allan & David McCormick are currently first and second with Esler/Neale finishing an excellent 3rd outright at Teretonga. Third in the class is Shane Helms/Rob Bolland who were happy to end their recent unlucky streak in endurance racing and will be looking for another good result. Two of the class favorites who didn’t finish the Teretonga race but will be among the class favorites at Powerbuilt Ruapuna are the Pat Heagney/Tony Head AE86 Turbo and the Warren Good/Arron Black BMW, the latter being touch and go to make Ruapuna after suffering heavy damage after making contact with the Teretonga main straight wall.
The 0-2000cc Classes 3 & 4 will also have more competition at Powerbuilt Ruapuna where the class is joined by the factory built Renault Megane Cup car of Brent Beatson/Grant Waters. The rapid Honda S2000 of Steve Parker/Matt Jackson easily won the class at Teretonga after the Mike Driver/Jarrod Parmenter Integra expired early. However watch out for ever reliable baby of the field the Peugeot 106 of Ken Sinclair/Dennis Ham who are in a strong position should something happen to the class front runners.
The ASKO Appliances One Hour Race Series will also have its second round at Powerbuilt Ruapuna and is a separate race & championship run alongside the 3hr series. The opening round was a great race between the Starlets of Stu Black and Dougal MacGibbon, until the latter expired. Then as the track dried the Mirage of Grant Molloy was catching Black, but there wasn’t quite enough laps with Molloy eventually finishing second by a mere couple of seconds, with another Starlet for Jamie & Lee Hodgins 3rd. All the Teretonga entrants will again line up at Powerbuilt Ruapuna. However the ASKO One Hour Race Series has some faster entries joining the series for round two including a pair of Porsche’s, the Ferrari and the super quick V8 RX7 of Grant Williams/Brent Buist, as well as entries including an Evo 7, Subaru WRX, a pair of BMW M3’s and Mazda RX7’s, boosting the 1hr field to over 20 cars.
After this weekends second Round at Powerbuilt Ruapuna the ASKO Appliances SI Endurance Series takes a weeks break for Bathurst, before its grand Finale at Levels Raceway in Timaru on 15th October, where the dash for the cash will be decided.
Thanks to Series sponsor ASKO Appliances as well as class sponsors Hagley Aluminum, Southern Finance, Burnside Contractors, Southern Demolition and Allied Petroleum / Mobil 1, the Series will have the richest prize money pool in NZ Motorsport, with $30,000- that will be paid out as prize money for 2011. With $10,000- up for grabs for the overall 3hr Series winners, the balance will be paid out on class points across both the 3hr & 1hr Series. As well as a cheque for $10,000- the overall 3hr series champion will be awarded the ‘South Canterbury Toyota Cup’ and there are also numerous other trophies, prizes and awards for the series. The Club has again been donated an original watercolor painting by High Country artist Norman Sinclair valued at approx. $10,000- which will be given away at the Series prize giving as a spot prize to a competitor in either the 3hr or 1hr Series.
