BNT: Fujitsu Racing Christchurch summary

WEEKEND OF POSITIVES FOR SCOTT

Round 2 of the BNT V8s Championship at Powerbuilt Tools Raceway in Christchurch was a weekend of positives for two-time series champion Kayne Scott.

The Hamilton driver had shown a good turn of pace at the opening round three weeks before and Scott and the Fujitsu Falcon had fantastic car speed from their arrival at the technical 3.3 kilometre Canterbury circuit last weekend.

Scott was second fastest in the first test session just .105 of a second off the fastest time and then he went on to set the quickest in the second test session later on Saturday.

That speed would stand the team in good stead for qualifying and Scott proved to be the man to beat. He headed the time sheets after the first segment of qualifying before repeating the effort to claim pole position for the first of the three races in the top ten shootout.

The Fujitsu Falcon duly lined up on pole position for the opening race of the round on Sunday morning. At the rolling start Scott accelerated into the lead and for the next ten laps the entire field chased the Falcon but made little impression. Scott crossed the line almost 3 seconds in front of defending champion Craig Baird to get the round off to the best possible start. However a ten second penalty was then applied, Kayne having been adjudged to have exceeded the maximum allowed speed as he led the field to the rolling start. The penalty dropped Scott to third place although there was the consolation of a new lap record of 1 minute 29.774 seconds. Later in the day there was yet another twist to the race when it was announced that John McIntyre was disqualified from the results, elevating Kayne to second place.

The original penalty also meant that the Fujitsu Falcon would start from third on the grid for the second race almost three hours later. The temperature had increased appreciably since the morning race and Kayne found the car more difficult to drive. Nevertheless he still maintained third place throughout the race and crossed the line just .5 of a second behind second placed Baird. Once again Scott recorded the fastest lap time of the race.

The strong early results had Kayne at the back of the grid for the final race, a reverse grid event over twenty laps. Again the Fujitsu Falcon was not handling as well as in the first race but Scott still utilised the car well, carving through the traffic to finish the day with a fifth place.

The results gave Scott second place overall for the round and sees him a close fourth in the championship standings after two rounds.

"It was a hugely promising weekend," said Kayne after a more than satisfactory round. "We had fantastic car speed right from the time we arrived. It was a weekend full of positives. We worked on some things that were good but as the track heated up it got away on us. It just shows how close it all is. We will go back to the workshop for a better understanding of that and we will get better again as the season progresses. We were fastest in every session bar one and fastest in the first two races with a lap record too."

The BNT V8s Championship now takes a short break before it resumes at the Teretonga Park circuit in Invercargill over the weekend of 15/16 January.

The team are pleased to retain their major sponsors Fujitsu and Altherm for the 2010/2011 season as well as other returning sponsors Trade Tools, Castrol, PPG and CRC. Welcome newcomers to the team this year are Hansen, Hirepool, South Auckland Ford, InterCity, Exedy, Century Yuasa, BOC Gases, King Springs and TL Print.

-source: Fujitsu Racing