Rain in the latter half of the ASKO 3 Hour Endurance Series race at Timaru on Saturday may have dampened the result but not the outcome of the overall championship.. The driver pairing of Andrew Bagnall and Ant Pedersen (Porsche GT3) finished third gaining enough points to take out the championship and the New Zealand 3 Hour Endurance title. Paul Kelly /Craig Baird(Porsche GT3) won the shortened race from Jono Lester/Robin Gray (Ferrari F430 Challenge) after officials finished the race under safety car conditions after 2 hours 41 minutes due to heavy wet weather.
“We’re happy with the win and second overall,” commented Kelly. “It would have been good to have won the series for a fourth consecutive year, but Andrew’s (Bagnall) car is just quicker.”
A strong fourth place went to the NZ V8 SuperTourer Prototype of John De Veth/Glen Smith with Sam Fillmore/Danny Stutterd (Porsche 997 Cup) fifth although a spin on the start finish straight in the rain almost had them in the wall. Fifth home was Allan Dippie/Scott O’Donnell (Porsche GT3 Cup S) giving them third overall in the Championship behind Kelly/Baird.
“We just had to shadow Baird,” commented Pedersen. “I initially didn’t feel that going to wets (tyres) was on but that proved to be the right move. We had everything to lose and nothing to gain. Jono (Lester) was hustling pretty hard so I let him go as I didn’t want to risk it. You don’t like finishing third but we came here to win the championship.”
Even though dry cool conditions greeted the drivers for the first half of the race, there were a number of early retirements particularly from the GT Class. First to lose drive was the Carters V8 Supercar Ford Falcon while leading the race, after 22 laps.
Following, another 21 laps later, was the Inky Tulloch/Grant Aitken Chev Camaro GT3, also with loss of drive while in the lead..
It was a race of two halves and when rain started falling at the halfway mark cars pitted with the help of a safety car when the #37 Toyota GT86 of Craig McDermid/Pat McDermid hit the wall after an altercation with a leading car. Some had already under gone their driver change several laps earlier and took another opportunity to put on wet tyres.
Eventual winner Paul Kelly timed his one and only stop with Craig Baird driving to the finish with a new set of wets.
Jono Lester showed his endurance skills in the rain and passed Pedersen for second. The Ferrari came into its own after the two hour mark threatening to take the lead.
“The race really came to us as the track got wetter,” commented Lester.. “We knew that his car is good in the rain but haven’t had a chance to test it. As the rain got harder we gained which was good. It’s been a lot of fun today and I’m really happy for the team. We have had a real run of rotten luck in the series. The team is new to motorsport so it’s a great result from the weekend.”
A spin by Lester while attempting to go round a slower driver and passing Baird resulted in officials revisiting the conditions which were eventually deemed too wet with the chequered flag coming out at the 2 hour 41 minute mark handing the win to Kelly/Baird.
First home in Class 1 and seventh in the race was the Mazda RX7 of Graeme Rhodes/Brent Buist, with Rhodes the overall series winner.
Right behind them was first in Class 2 and overall class champion Guy Stewart/Mike Driver (Seat Super Coba).
Arron Black/Stuart Black (BMW E46) were first home in Class 3/ 4 in ninth but Garry Cliff/Hayden Knighton were overall winners of the class, finishing the race in 11th.
