After a brief break from racing over the Christmas period, the 2012 leg of the Suzuki Swift Sport Cup comes to life as the field heads to Teretonga (near Invercargill) for the second of three consecutive Southern legs of the Premier Race Championship.
For the Hamilton based Liquorland Racing team, the short gap has seemed more of an eternity, and for driver Shaun Lawrence it’s definitely been a case of “hurry up and wait”. The teams immaculately presented Suzuki came away from the last round at Ruapuna (Christchurch) with a few minor bumps and scrapes, but was generally mechanically perfect which has made for a somewhat de-stressed rest period.
Following on from a near forgettable second round of the Championship, Lawrence now heads back to the track that brought his maiden race win twelve months ago. Rest assured, he’ll definitely be out to replicate that effort again this year!
“I’ve got a real soft-spot for Teretonga”, says a smiling Lawrence. “We had an excellent car set up there last year which obviously brought the results. We’ll be using the same set up again this year for sure, and I think it’s fair to say that the team’s pretty confident of putting on a good show. It’d definitely get our campaign right back on track” he added.
After his best ever start to a season, Lawrence came away from Round One second equal on the points table and brimming with confidence, however a difficult round at Ruapuna (which included a lengthy pit stop to replace a bent steering arm) has seen the team drop a few spots. That said, the season is only one-third complete so there’s plenty of races left to get the campaign back where it should be, and the team are certainly raring to get going.
Lawrence, along with team-mate Chris Cox are also the current leaders in the 2011/12 Suzuki Swift Sport Cup Teams Championship, and will certainly be looking to cement that position over the course of the weekend.
