An epic battle between ASKO Appliances South Island 3 Hour Endurance title contenders Paul Kelly/Daniel Gaunt (Porsche GT3) and Rick Armstrong/Mathew Hamilton (Porsche GT3) took place at Powerbuilt Tools Raceway, Christchurch, as part of the Mike Pero Real Estate 350 V8 SuperTourers weekend. It required the full three hours to decide the winner with the Kelly/Gaunt GT3 crossing the line ahead of the Armstrong/Hamilton Porsche.  With 20 minutes remaining in the race Gaunt was able to get past Hamilton for the lead but then wasn’t confident of having enough fuel until the end.

“It has been a great day,” commented Paul Kelly with both the one and three hour titles in the trophy cabinet. “But a bit nerve racking at the end thinking whether we would get over the line with enough fuel.”

Tied on points going into the third and final race of the series, both combinations were surprised by the new speed of the Ferrari 458 of Sam McNeill/Craig Innes who put the car on pole and then dominated much of the race.  With a new aero kit fitted the Italian marque was imminently quicker than at its debut round at Timaru earlier in the month.

The only car able to keep pace with the Ferrari was the GT3 of Jono Lester/Simon Ellingham.  Both cars made a substantial break on the rest of the field until just after the first hour when Lester pitted for fuel and Ellingham took over.

Meanwhile Armstrong held third with a reasonable gap to Kelly then the George McFarlane/Grant Silvester (Porsche GT3) and the Matthew Carter/Dwayne Carter V8 Supercar Falcon sixth.

After the first round of pit stops between 60-90 minutes of racing, the Ferrari with Innes at the wheel led from Hamilton, Ellingham, Gaunt, McFarlane and Carter.

This started to change when Innes was forced to pit several times just after two hours of racing, first with a vibration, and then with a puncture.   Hamilton took over the lead from a chasing Gaunt and Ellingham who pitted putting Lester back behind the wheel.

Dropping down to sixth it all came undone for the Ferrari when the brakes let go at the end of the main straight and it speared off into the gravel trap bringing out the safety car.

“The car is fast but you have to go for three hours,” lamented Innes.

Hamilton held a five second gap to Gaunt but this closed right up with the safety car and after the field was released Gaunt took over the lead passing Hamilton down the main straight with twenty minutes remaining.  His lead extended when Hamilton made a a ‘splash and dash’ with ten to go.

“The safety car definitely helped,” commented Gaunt.  “We had a bit of time to make up but were fairly confident of getting to the end with fuel.  I had to save during my stint but also catch up with Matt (Hamilton) so it is a bit of a catch 22!”

“It’s been a great series,” commented Armstrong after the race.  “The start seemed to go according to plan and we always knew that we were going to ‘two’ stop (for extra fuel).  However during my stint we thought we may have got away with one so I backed off. But it didn’t play out as hoped.  If we got two safety cars then we would have got by with one stop.”

The Ellingham/Lester GT3 came in third on the line and for the series overall with the Carter Falcon fourth across the line followed by McFarlane/Silvester and then Scott O’Donnell/Clark Proctor (Porsche GT3) sixth.

In the 3501cc+ Class 1 the Craig McDermid/Scotty McDermid  (Corolla twin turbo) won from Graeme Rhodes/Paul Rickerby (RX7 V8) with John Wadsworth/Warren Croft (Commodore VY) limping home to gain enough points to finish third.

Arron Black/Stu Black (x-WTCC BMW E46) won the 2001-3500cc Class 2 from Chris West/Gavin Dawson (Mitsubishi Evo 9) with John DeVeth/Phil Gill (Evo 8) third.

Class 3& 4 (0 -2000cc) was won by Grant Molloy/Bradley Dawson (Mitsubishi Mirage) from Mark Wederell/Jason Aitkins (Honda Integra Type R) with Dean McGuigan/Pavlos van Aalst (Honda Integra R) third.