The ASKO Endurance Series invades Christchurchs Powerbuilt Ruapuna this Saturday with the top teams, drivers and cars in NZ Endurance racing ready to battle it out in the annual SIERDC 3 hour endurance race. The ASKO Appliances catch phrase built to last will ring true, as proven at the Series Teretonga opener where there were surprises and disappointments throughout the field as teams worked hard to get points on the board at round one of the three round series that also doubles as the 2014 MSNZ NZ Endurance Championships.
Teretonga victors Ant Pedersen/Andrew Bagnall (Porsche 997 GT3) will be looking for another strong showing at Ruapuna and there is definitely no lack of seat time for Pedersen as he competes in the ASKO Series, V8 SuperTourer enduros plus the upcoming Bathurst 1000 debut for newly formed Super Black Racing. Defending Series champion Paul Kelly and vastly experienced team mate Craig Baird (997 GT3) will again be applying the pressure to the International Motorsports duo and will be slighly better prepared as Baird missed all the testing & practice at Teretonga as he made his way to the Southern circuit. In a series where fortunes can change in an instant, other cars to look out for are the Danny Stutterd/Sam Fillmore (997 GT3) who drove to an impressive podium finish at Teretonga and also the Allan Dippie/Scott ODonnell (997 GT3 Cup S) who recovered from a first lap clash to claim a strong 4th place. Looking to spoil the Porsche dominance in the impressive GT class is a big variety of V8 machinery, however all suffered misery at Teretonga. Inky Tullochss brand new stunning Reiter Camaro GT3 never really turned a wheel in anger at Teretonga due to ECU issues but the team hope to have the car firing on all cylinders at Ruapuna. Others that will be back to the top of their game for Ruapuna will be Matt Carter/Dwayne Carter (Falcon V8 Supercar) with a new engine, John deVeth/Glenn Smith (Commodore V8ST) who had altenator issues and the bright red Ferrari F430 of endurance specialist Jono Lester & Robin Gray. Bad luck was certainly on the side of the Angus McFarlane/George McFarlane Porsche 997 GT3 Cup R at Teretonga as they lost a huge amount of time early in the race after bodywork off another car penetrated their windscreen. The team did an excellent job to get the car back on track, however succumb to the elements when the heavens opened and with no windscreen or wipers deemed it simply too dangerous to carry on. However, none of the big field of GT class cars should be discounted from a podium finish and this big class also includes Simon McLennan/Tim James, Lindsay ODonnell/Phil Mauger and Peter Van Eekelen/Kane Lawson all in Porsche 997 GT3s.
The Kwi built Class 1 (3501cc+) cars were tremendously impressive at Teretonga filling the 2nd row of the grid and leaving much more fancied machinery in their wake. The Corvette C6R of Bruce Davidson/Dave Garden was the fastest of the Class 1 cars at Teretonga and one of only a few cars to go under the minute around the Southern circuit. However it was the twin Turbo Toyota 86 of Craig McDermid/Scott McDermid that really pressured the German brigade right through the fist one and a half hours of the race, until an engine misfire slowed their run before team boss Craig McDermid slipped off the circuit and met the unforgiving Teretonga tyre wall as the downpour greeted the circuit with only 25 minutes to go. The Corvette also spent some time in the pits with brake issues and was eventually classified as a non-finisher, leaving 2013 Class 1 winners Graeme Rhodes/Paul Rickerby (RX7 V8) to scoop the class win. However their race also wasnt drama free with a broken axel late in the race nearly ending their chances, whilst the sister RX7 V8 of Darryl Barrett/Hamish Frew was out early on with electrical gremlins. A welcome addition to this class at Ruapuna is defending NZV8 champion Nick Ross who will team up with Perry Scarfe in the 2nd Carter Tyres Motorsport Ford Falcon BA. So once again fans can expect the fast class 1 cars to be mixing it with the faster GT class cars and pushing hard towards the pointy end of the field and the battle within class will once again be hard fought and with only one car in this class making the finish line at Teretonga, getting to the chequered flag Ruapuna is hugely important.
Class 2 (2001-3500cc) Teretonga winners Mike Driver/Guy Stewart (Seat Leon Supacopa) made a solid start to their Series campaign in the only class where every car made the finish. Steve Parker/Matt Jackson (Honda S2000 turbo) were early class leaders climbing as high as 4th overall before being another team to get caught off circuit when the weather broke, but managed to scramble back to 2nd in class, just heading off the BMW M3 of past 1hr Seres competitors Anthoiny Ticker/Adam Glass and the E30 M3 of Jim Wallace/Stephen Grellett. There are more additions to this class for the Ruapuna round including Allan & David McCormick (BMW GTR) Pavlos Van Aalst/Dean McGuigan (E30 M3), the showstopping M3 turbo of Shane Helms/Rob Bolland, and the Team Ralliart Evo 9 for Matthew Wales/Craig Vulawalu.
It was the striking little Honda Civic RC of Garry Cliff/Hayden Knighton who took out Class 3&4 (0-2000cc) at Teretonga, as pre-series class favourites Arron Black/Stu Black (BMW E46 WTC ) not even making the start line at Teretonga, after destroying the gearbox in the BMW during Friday testing. This team then switched to their back-up Starlet for race day, however it also suffered mechanical woes. The ex Kiwi Team Nurburgring Honda Civic of defending class champion Paul Coghill/Kynan Yu finished 2nd in class with the ever reliable Peugeot 106 of Ken Sinclair/Dennis Ham filling the final podium spot. With the ex NZ Touring car of Grant Constable not making the race and both Jeff Vincent/Daniel Currie (Civic) and Mark Meadow/Tim Pollard (Intrgra R ) suffering issues this class had more attrition than usual.
As the 3 round series passes its half way mark after Ruapuna, there is no rest for the teams as they then tackle the tight & twisty Levels Raceway circuit in Timaru on 18th October for the Series Grand Finale where the overall series champion will be awarded the South Canterbury Toyota Cup as ASKO Endurance Series winners and the MSNZ NZ Endurance Championship for 2014. Thanks to Series sponsor ASKO Appliances as well as Mobil 1, Paul Kelly Motor Company, Hagley Aluminium & Pacific Invoice Finance, the Series will again have a prizemoney pool of $30,000- that will be paid out for 2014, as well as major spot prizes up for grabs to a competitors in either the One Hour or Three Hour Series.
Entries are still available for the Ruapuna round and for more information, or to be added to the South Island Endurance Racing Drivers Clubs e-mailing list, please contact Chris Dunn via e-mail at [email protected] Club information and live updates on race day can be found on the clubs facebook page www.facebook.com/sierdcnz, and for more information on the series sponsor ASKO, please visit www.asko.co.nz. The Ruapuna action starts from 10.30am Saturday and gate entry is only $15-00.
