Paul Manuell has picked an in-form Australian as his partner for the BNT NZ SuperTourer endurance races.
Shae Davies, 24, has just had the best results of his career, finishing second overall in the Porsche Carrera Cup support races at Melbourne’s
Sandown 500 V8 Supercar meeting. In all three races he finished ahead of Kiwi Craig Baird, who has enjoyed huge success racing Porsches.
The experienced Manuell and Davies will have their first joint outing in Manuell’s Orix Commodore at the Rush Security Taupo 400 over the September 27-28 weekend. That is the first of three endurance rounds which begin the 2014-15 overall championship.
Davies does not race V8 Supercars but he is getting faster and faster in the Porsches, and he has the benefit of experience in the BNT NZ SuperTourers as he partnered Andy Booth last year.
“That makes it easier,” Aucklander Manuell, a former NZV8 champion, says. “He’s had a pretty good season over in Aussie with the Carrera Cup, he’s got some miles going on there. And he seems like a pretty grounded young fellow.”
Manuell sat out the four sprint meetings that comprised the 2014 championship earlier this year, instead running Australian Morgan Haber in the car.
“I’m champing at the bit to get back in the car,” he says. “I’ve been out of the car for a while and I’m not a good spectator. I’m looking forward to getting back out there and mixing it up. It should be good – I’m refreshed and ready to go.
“I’ve had a couple of test runs in the car and I’ll have another run on Thursday, just to get some laps under my belt and remember where the pedals are.”
The 2014-15 championship continues with four sprint meetings in the first part of next year.
