With only 5 weeks to go until the 2015 ASKO South Island Endurance Series bursts into life, the Series again has a very impressive range of spectacular entries and has just confirmed its biggest prizemoney pool to date.
For the past few seasons the series has boasted the largest prizemoney pool in New Zealand and for 2015 the series is again thrilled to again have ASKO Appliances as its naming rights sponsor. ASKO, along with loyal series sponsors Allied Petroleum – Mobil 1, Hagley Windows and Doors and Pacific Invoice Finance are joined in 2015 by new sponsors Armstrong Prestige and Carters Tyre Service to provide an even bigger prizemoney pool for series competitors. “We have $20,000 in cash that we will pay as class prize money, plus $10,000 for the 3hr Series winner” said series secretary Chris Dunn. “On top of that the prestige of winning the coveted South Island Endurance Series title”
The Series already has entries from many of the top teams from the 2014 ASKO Series and is set to be a real show-down. Newly crowned North Island 3hr Series champions Inky Tulloch and John McIntyre will return with the GT3 Sareni Camaro and International Motorsport with bring south the two as new Audi R8 LMS GT3 Ultras, one for defending series champion Andrew Bagnall who teams up with Series sponsor Rick Armstrong. Add into this the GT3 Ferrari for Trass Family Motorsport driver Jono Lester, the ex-888 Falcon V8 Supercar for the Carter brothers Ford Falcon, the ex-V8 SuperTourer of Simon McLennan and the freshly built TLX chassis Holden Cruise of series regulars John Wadsworth & Warren Croft and the 5 year Porsche domination looks very shaky. However Porsche fans will still have serious competition to cheer for with the 997 GT3 Cup R of George & Angus McFarlane, the similar 997 Cup S of Scott O’Donnell and Allan Dippie and a 997 GT3 for Sam Fillmore & Danny Stutterd. As always the Series has many competitors fronting with classy new machinery and again look out for some wicked new cars set to make their Series debut including Grant Williams ex Australian GT spec Corvette Z06, Danny Whiting’s near new Porsche 991 and an amazing little Lotus Exige that is likely to give the bigger cars a run for their money. “The Series always produces a remarkable range of cars and this season is no different and you can guarantee there is always exciting new machinery filling our grids.” said Dunn. “So with close to 70 cars already registered it’s looking to be another stellar season.”
The ASKO Endurance Series will again be run over 3 rounds, with separate races for both the 3 Hour & 1 Hour Series’ and a round held at each of the three traditional South Island race circuits. The Series starts at Teretonga Park, Invercargill on 19th September, then to Mike Pero Ruapuna, Christchurch for round Two on 3rd October with the grand finale at Levels Raceway, Timaru on 17th October 2015.
With the races separated both series’ will have 5 separate racing classes, with cars divided into four capacity based classes being, Class 4: 0-1600cc, Class 3: 1601-2000cc, Class 2: 2001-3500cc and Class 1: 3501cc and over, plus a ‘GT class’ for the FIA GT3 spec cars. Porsche GT3’s, top level V8’s and other exotic cars, such as the Ferrari 458 in the field. “The great thing about this year’s series is that we always have a great line-up of cars across all of the classes” said Dunn “No matter what car you have there will always be someone at your pace to race with, plus its often the smaller more reliable cars that are the most impressive as they work their way up through the fields.”
The 2015 ASKO Endurance Series is also a qualifying series towards the 2015/16 Motorsport NZ Endurance Championships. The top 20 from the recently completed Mahindra NI Endurance Series have already qualified and will be joined by the top 20 ASKO Series cars for a winner takes all Endurance Championship race in March 2016, making this competitors last chance to qualify for the New Zealand Endurance Championship.
So it’s looking like another huge year for this popular series, with over $30,000-00 in prizemoney up for grabs, plus there is a magnificent Norm Sinclair original painting valued at around $10,000-00, Michelin tyres as well as ENDLESS Advance Brake Technologies goodies and $2500 in cash, all to give away as a spot prizes to competitors in the Series. “The generous support we receive is humbling.” said Dunn “We are ecstatic to have an even bigger prize & prize money package for 2015, but that’s just the on track goodies as we always ensure we treat our competitors to amazing free social functions as well.”
Although excited about the entries to date there are still some spots on the grid available in both the 3 Hour & 1 Hour Series’ and dollar for dollar Endurance racing represents the best value for money Motorsport available. Competitors can still register their interest by contacting Series Secretary, Chris Dunn, via e-mail at [email protected] or phone 021-107-9293. Any potential competitors, crews and supporters are welcome to be added to the clubs e-mailing list by simply sending an e-mail to the above address, or via the Clubs facebook page at facebook.com/sierdcnz
