NZ V8: David Bernard Christchurch preview

BESNARD LEADS NZV8 CHAMPIONSHIP TO CHRISTCHURCH

Gold Coast driver David Besnard will be aiming to repeat his dominant round-winning performance from Pukekohe three weeks ago when he contests Round Two of the NZV8 Championship at the Powerbuilt Raceway in Christchurch this weekend.

Gold Coast based Besnard, 29, recorded two race wins and a second placing on debut in the competitive New Zealand championship, including a last-to-first performance in the final reverse-grid race.

His round winning performance marked a stunning arrival on the New Zealand motorsport scene and after some further testing this week Besnard is confident ahead of his first appearance at the Ruapuna circuit.

"What we're trying to do is improve our outright pace. It's a great race car; it just lacked a bit of pace in qualifying. So we're trying to set it up so we can fire off quick laps," said Besnard.

"It was really good doing some more testing, we've now got some stuff sorted out with the new car. We did 70 or 80 laps at Taupo, which is our nominated test track. It's also the scene of the next race in the series after this round,"

"Our plan for the weekend is to pretty much do what we did at Pukekohe -- but with extra pace."

David Besnard's first race for Hydraulink Racing was three weeks ago and despite only appearing in the V8 Supercar Australia endurance events for WPS Racing this season he showed his class with instant success.

This weekend Besnard faces a new challenge in the shape of the technical Ruapuna Circuit, the first of the New Zealand circuits which he has not tackled before. The 3.33km flat-based circuit to the east of Christchurch features predominantly left hand turns and few overtaking opportunities, but a strong race package and improved qualifying speed will set Besnard on the path to extend his Championship lead.

Besnard, driver of the Number 48 BA Falcon, currently leads the NZV8 Championship on 217 points, ahead of fellow Ford drivers John McIntyre (174 points) and Angus Fogg (137 points).

The Hydraulink Racing Falcon will be on track for two practice sessions on Friday ahead of qualifying and the first 12 lap race at 2.30pm (NZ time) on Saturday. Sunday's action features a 16 lap race at 11:05am NZ before a full reverse-grid 20 lap feature at 3.00pm NZ.

The third round of the NZV8 Championship will see Hydraulink Racing return to their Taupo test track on January 19-21 2007.

-credit: bam media