GTRNZ: Series Taupo Saturday notes

GTRNZ DELIVERS ON DEBUT

The new GTRNZ saloon category delivered on its promise at the Taupo Motorsport Park today.

The exciting saloon class features the fastest, most radical cars in New Zealand and todays first outing provided good close racing and spectacular action.

Split into three classes - GT1 and GT2 which race together and NZGT - close racing was the order of the day. In the GT1 Class Grant Brennan of Tauranga in his Brennan SB2 Corvette, John Rae of New Plymouth in his C5 Corvette and Bernie Gillon of Tauranga all set very similar lap times. In the opening race this afternoon it was Brennan who triumphed, leading home from Rae with former NZ Super Sedan Champion, Dayne Running of Drury third in his Corvette. Gillon suffered a couple of spins during the race as he struggled with gearbox problems. Another Tauranga driver, Andy Greenslade, spun after he was hit from behind while Nick Chester had gearbox issues in testing.

Brennan was running the Corvette on ethanol as were several other drivers including Mark Burgess of Wellington in his Mazda RX7. Cameron Jones of Palmerston North debuted his rotary powered Chev Camaro and lapped the track faster than he has ever managed previously.

The GT2 Class, run alongside the GT1 cars, was won today by Mark Ross with Aucklander Wayne Conder second in his Camaro followed by Peter Stewart of Te Puke, running ethanol in his Chev Cortina. Craig Corliss was a very close fourth in his Falcon V8 Supercar.

The massive field in the NZGT race was led home by Greg Kilworth in his Mazda RX7 with Kohimarama Porsche 964 driver Kevin Cantwell second.

All three classes face another two races tomorrow. The championship consists of seven rounds in the North Island throughout the summer.

-credit: gtrnz