Leading New Zealand electrical and data supplier J.A.Russell Ltd is stepping up its sponsorship commitment to International Motorsport driver Ant Pedersen for this weekend’s Pukekohe 500 V8 SuperTourers race meeting in a move team manager Nick Williamson says is a major vote of confidence in the new category.

“Particularly in it’s first year,” says Williamson of the new category based round a purpose-built chassis and V8 engine and Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore bodies.

“To get a series like this up and running has been a mammoth task and for a major national company like J.A. Russell Ltd to not only get involved but also increase its involvement certainly validates all the time and effort everyone has put in to make it happen.”

This year’s inaugural V8 SuperTourers series has proved an unqualified success with 20-car grids and the cream of the local drivers supported at the three endurance rounds by a host of highly-rated internationals.

This weekend’s round is the second of the three endurance events with top team International Motorsport again fielding three Ford Falcons, the #96 for Ant Pedersen and Matt Halliday, the #2 for Jonny Reid and Wade Cunningham plus the #32 for Mitch Cunningham and Australian driver Dean Canto.

J.A.Russell Ltd has been supporting team young gun Ant Pedersen since his move from karts to cars, but this weekend that support goes from a windscreen banner to full livery on the Pedersen/Halliday car.

The company joins a growing number of blue chip national and international sponsors supporting teams and drivers in the series, a fact Ant Pedersen in particular is very proud of.

“I’m certainly very happy that J. A. Russell Ltd have chosen to increase their support of our programme. They have been with me since the very early days, and supported my move from karts to the MINI Challenge and for them to go to a full naming rights package shows the value they see in the class and the job Matt and I can do for them this weekend.”

Both International Motorsport Falcons were quick but their drivers ultimately unlucky at the first endurance round of the V8 SuperTourer season at Taupo in September and Jonny Reid, who finished second to John McIntyre in the sprint ‘series’ and remains second in the overall series points standings says that he is confident of a better showing this weekend.

“Everyone in the team wants the same thing – to win – and now that we’ve done one of these enduro round meetings we all know what to expect.”

Billed as the biggest event in circuit motor racing in the country this year, this weekend’s event at Pukekohe Park Raceway – the last before the track is closed and rebuilt for New Zealand’s V8 Supercar round next April – is based round the ‘Rock n’ Race format which has proved so successful across the Tasman, with racing during the day and a rock concert, headlined by top New Zealand act The Feelers, on Saturday night.

Under a slight change to the format from the Fathers’ Day 500 meeting at Taupo, action at the Pukekohe track begins on Friday with practice then qualifying, a Top 10 Shoot Out and the first of three races for the V8 SuperTourers on Saturday afternoon.

All up there will be three SuperTourers races over the weekend, the first of two 53 lappers starting at just after 4 pm on Saturday, a second 53-lapper starting at 11.45am on Sunday morning and a 73 lap/hour-and-a-half final due to start at 3.00pm on Sunday afternoon.

Each driver must take part in at least one practice session, though only one driver needs to qualify the car. The Top 10 Shoot Out will decide the first 10 places on the grid for the first race on Saturday with subsequent places based on times set in the qualifying session earlier in the day. The grid for the second race, in turn, will be decided by the finishing order of the first race while the grid for the final will be based on championship points scored by the car in the first two races.

Either driver can start any of the three races as nominated by the team and to help spectators identify who is in a car at any particular time teams have been asked to equip each car with an indicator light which will be on when the nominated lead driver is behind the wheel and off when it is the other driver on-board.

You can follow the progress of Jonny Reid and Wade Cunningham, Ant Pedersen and Matt Halliday, and Mitch Cunningham and Dean Canto on International Motorsport’s website (www.internationalmotorsport.co.nz) or on the team’s facebook page.