In breaking news top New Zealand team International Motorsport has added a third car – the ex Andy Knight Ford Falcon – to its line-up for the remaining rounds of the 2012 V8 SuperTourer NZ motor racing series.
The car will be driven by former Toyota Racing Series champion Mitch Cunningham and top Australian V8 Supercar driver Dean Canto and will join the team’s existing enduro lineup of Ant Pedersen and Mat Halliday in the # 96 Ford Falcon and Jonny Reid and Mitch Cunningham’s older brother Wade Cunningham in the #2 Ford Falcon.
“It was a last minute opportunity but when we looked at it we really couldn’t turn it down,” says team manager Nick Williamson.”It’s a good car and Mitch is already well known to us having raced for the team in the Toyota Racing Series and Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship.”
International Motorsport was one of the first New Zealand teams to commit to the new V8 SuperTourer NZ series, running Ford Falcons backed by the New Zealand Herald newspaper’s motoring supplement, Driven, for Jonny Reid and electrical supplier J.A.Russell for Ant Pedersen.
Pedersen won the third race at the opening round of the new series at Hampton Downs in February and went on to finish sixth overall in the ‘sprint’ series-within-a-series standings while Reid qualified quickest and won two of the three races at the Manfeild round in April and ended up second overall in the sprint points standings.
After winning the Toyota Racing Series in 2009 Mitch Cunningham spent two seasons contesting New Zealand’s Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship, finishing fourth overall in 2011.
Before moving to cars the now 25-year-old from Auckland raced karts with success here, in Australia and in Europe. And before returning home to contest the Toyota Racing Series he also spent a year in the United States contesting a Formula Ford 2000 series.
His co-driver for the three enduro rounds of the V8 SuperTourer NZ Series, Sydney-based 31-year-old Dean Canto, is a fellow former kart star who won two Australian V8 Development series titles before graduating to the V8 Supercar category. This year he is co-driving for Ford Performance Racing driver David Reynolds at Bathurst.
You can follow the progress of the International Motorsport pairings of Jonny Reid and Wade Cunningham, Ant Pedersen and Matt Halliday, and Mitch Cunningham and Dean Canto on International Motorsport’s website (www.internationalmotorsport.co.nz) or on the team’s new facebook page.
