Three Hours of competitive racing has seen the immaculate Ferrari 458 GT3 of Sam Fillmore/Richard Muscat come out on top and win the opening round of the Carters Tyres South Island Endurance Series in Invercargill over the weekend.
The first of three rounds saw a number of competitive battles throughout the field as drivers and teams fought for line and class honours.
The Tulloch Motorsport SaReNi Camaro GT3 driven by Nelson’s John McIntyre and Simon Gilbertson from the Hawke’s Bay set the fastest lap in qualifying and proved to be the fastest car during the race, setting another race lap record. However, a clash with the Porsche 997 Cup S of last year’s title holders, Angus and George McFarlane from Christchurch, saw Gilbertson limp back to the pits with a puncture, dropping the Camaro down the order.
It was the McFarlane Porsche that came off much worse having hit a wall very hard and ending their race. A post-race investigation deemed it to be a racing incident which was no consolation for the McFarlanes having suffered a similar fate at the NZ Endurance title decider at Hampton Downs back in March.
This left the Trass Family Motorsport Ferrari to battle for the lead with the V8 SuperTourer driven by Simon McLennan/Richard Moore, while John McIntyre took over the reins of the Camaro and set about reducing the deficient. The Fillmore/Muscat Ferrari eventually took line honours ahead of McIntyre after the V8 SuperTourer struck electrical problems dropping them to fourth overall.
While not the fastest GT in the field, consistent driving from Christchurch’s Paul Kelly/Daniel Gaunt netted them third.
Further down the field an epic battle took place between the Craig McDermid/Scott McDermid twin turbo Supra powered Toyota 86 and the Scott O’Donnell/Allan Dippie Porsche 991 GT3. Both battled side by side and nose to tail for the first half of the three-hour race with the Porsche crossing the finish line in fifth, one place ahead of the Toyota which took line honours in Class 1 (3500+cc).
Mike Driver/Phil Hood turbocharged Seat Leon Supercopa dominated Class 2 (2001-3500cc) while Rodney Parks/Michael Parks Honda S2000 won Class 3 (0-2000cc).
The much anticipated debut of series sponsors Matt Carter/Dwayne Carter Mercedes AMG SLS GT3 was short lived. Problems with a reset button during a pitstop dropped them down the field. Being sandwiched between a slow and fast car saw them retire with steering issues.
The Carters Tyres Three Hour Race Series now heads to the Mike Pero Motorpsort Park, Ruapuna, Christchurch on October 1st before the grand finale at Levels Raceway, Timaru on 15th October.
