The Production GT Series put on a great show as the first round played out at Teretonga Park near Invercargill last weekend.
An exceptional field of over twenty cars fronted and provided great racing throughout the weekend.
The series concept which caters for a wide range of cars ensured a large grid with plenty of variety among the entries. The end result – some superb racing.
Local man Andrew Cundall had the fastest car on the track, a Toyota Levin powered by a Nissan 350Z turbocharged 3.5 V6 engine with a six-speed Quaife sequential gearbox and used this weapon to take a dominant win in the first race on Saturday afternoon. Winton driver Pierre Neame followed him home in his Ford Mustang with Murray Beeby of Timaru third in his Nissan R32 GTR. Cundall took maximum points in the Sports GT Class for his efforts while Neville Stowell of Timaru who finished fourth in his Subaru WRX won the Production GT Turbo Class. Gary Ponting of Wanaka was left as the sole entry in the non turbo Production GT Class in his Honda Civic after Kevin Varney did not make it past testing on Friday and proceeded to take top points in each race over the weekend.
In Sunday morniing’s reverse grid, delayed start race Cundall charged through the field reaching sixth, but his progress was halted when the race finished behind the safety car in wet and treacherous conditions after Stan Moore of Temuka left the track in his EVO. Another Temuka driver Geoff Gray won the race in his Mitsubishi EVO 5 giving him maximum points in the Production GT turbo class. Hamish Ellingham of Napier was second with Gary Duncan of Temuka third. Harry Dodson of Auckland in his Nissan R35 GTR was the first of the Sports GT cars in fourth with Stowell fifth.
Once again the faster cars had to work hard in the third and final race, a handicap event. Cundall started from the pitlane and sliced through for a 5 second win from Beeby and Lyndon Ball of Ashburton in a turbocharged Toyota Starlet. Cundall again took the top points in the Sports GT Class while Ball took Production GT turbo honours and Ponting the non-turbo class again.
After three exciting races Cundall leads the Sports GT Class with 79 points followed by Beeby on 66 and Dodson on 48. In the Production GT Turbo Class it is the consistent Duncan who leads after finishing third in class in each race. He has 69 points with Gray just one point behind and Ellingham just two points further back. Ponting has the Production GT non turbo class to himself at the moment with 81 points from the opening round. Stowell and Dodson both lost valuable points when they failed to finish the final race.
The series now moves to Timaru International Motor Raceway at Levels near Timaru this weekend. With an interesting outlook on the weather front, it may well be another cracker weekend and a mixed bag of racing.
The series comprises two Production GT Classes, one for forced induction cars and the other for normally aspirated cars. Production GT cars must retain the manufacturers original chassis and utilise an engine sourced from the same manufacturer as that of the body shell. A Sports GT Class is also included giving any machine a home to run without restrictions other than having to run with dot rated tyres. The class is operating a facebook page facebook.com/ProductionGT where information is available including the series articles.
