ParcFerme.Com

The sweat-stained face of John McIntyre, the defending New Zealand V8s champion, said it all after three hot, dusty races during the A1GP meeting in Taupo.

“It’s absolutely sensational to win the round and extend the championship lead, but the circuit was very difficult with dirt being pulled onto the racing line and we’ve never had a reverse grid race with so much damage,” said McIntyre after winning two of the weekend’s three races and managing to drive from the very back of the 33 car strong grid into seventh place in the final reverse grid race.

McIntyre started the three-day A1GP meeting in the BP Ultimate Ford with the third fastest qualifying time and took the first race win after a hard-fought battle with fastest qualifier Andy Booth in the Tasman Motorsport Holden.

In the weekend’s second race, Booth muscled past McIntyre to emerge the race leader just seconds after the start and looked all set to take his – and Holden’s – first win of the season. Booth, a two-time V8 champion, crossed the line in first place, but later officials concluded his driving behaviour on that first corner wasn’t appropriate due to contact being made between Booth and McIntyre’s cars, and penalised him by adding 50 seconds to his total race time. This dropped Booth to 14th place and awarded the win – and maximum points – to McIntyre.

The last race on the card for the A1GP weekend was the V8s 22-lap reverse grid race. With the starting grid determined by adding the points earned in the first two races, then reversing the order, the Strapping Systems Holden of Kevin WilliamsJohn Penny’s SCG Motorsport Ford alongside him. McIntyre was at the very back of the 33-strong grid. was on pole with

Key pacesetters David Besnard and Paul Pedersen carved through the field. From 19th, Besnard climbed to second, chasing a determined Williams in the lead. Pedersen came from 27th through to third and when the only safety car intervention in the three V8 races was required to extract Dale Lambert from the gravel, Besnard and Pedersen were able to close on Williams. A tremendous battle for the lead eventually saw Pedersen in front and through to take the chequered flag. Besnard’s car slowed dramatically and he could only finish 23rd. Williams held on for a well-deserved second place, while Booth had charged from 23rd into third to improve his overall championship placing to fifth equal with team-mate Paul Manuell who was unable to finish the race after solid performances earlier in the weekend.

Two-time world touring car champion Paul Radisich hasn’t been enamoured with the reverse grid format, saying: “It’s silly racing; it’s not racing. Dodgem’s racing maybe.” After a 22nd place in the final race, Radisich finished the weekend holding fourth place in the series.

Kayne Scott, the 2005-06 V8 champion, came into the Taupo round in second place, but various issues saw the Fujitsu Ford driver score a second, and, uncharacteristically, a fourth and 14th to drop him into third place overall.

Taking over second place on the leader-board, Angus Fogg was pleased with the final outcome for his new Havoline Ford’s first outing. “We had to borrow an engine after blowing on during testing, but the car’s been pretty good out of the box. I’ve saved two of our six allocated Dunlop tyres for Manfeild and we’ll have a new engine too, so I need to get some race wins and haul in McIntyre.”

McIntyre got caught up in a series of incidents in the reverse grid race but came through to finish seventh. This gave McIntyre maximum points and an extended lead in the New Zealand V8s championship going into the fourth round at Manfeild on 16-17 February 2008.

More information is available on www.nzv8s.co.nz.

The weekend’s racing in detail

Qualifying

Booth, a two-time V8 champion, set a blistering time of 1:35.668 on the re-jigged Taupo Motorsport Park circuit to snatch pole position from Scott and McIntyre in the last of the V8s’ three qualifying sessions.

Having led the 2007-8 New Zealand V8s Championship coming into this third round, McIntyre set a fastest time of 1:36.576) in the second session while Scott, another former V8 champion, set the fastest time of 1:36.643 in the second session. The final session saw Booth on pole with Scott in second and McIntyre third fastest. Paul Manuell was fourth quickest in the Orix Holden and Paul Pedersen, who rejoins the V8s series in the Ford most recently driven by team-mate Angus Fogg, was fifth fastest. Fogg suffered an engine failure in his new Ford during testing and was unable to qualify better than eleventh with a borrowed engine. Tim Edgell, Paul Radisich, Dean Perkins, Mark Pedersen (no relation to Paul) and Andrew Fawcet rounded out the top ten.  Booth and Manuell were the only Holden drivers.

Booth said he was delighted to feel competitive again. “The big test will be to see if the car is that quick over the whole race distance, but we’ve done a lot of work since the previous round in Christchurch. A couple of worthwhile test days here at Taupo with one of the Tasman Motorsport engineers have really paid off.”

Race 1

McIntyre extended his series lead with a win in race one. Starting in third with the more advantageous inside line going into opening left-hander, McIntyre was quick to move into second place behind pole-setter Booth, forcing Scott, who started second, back into third.

Booth and McIntyre quickly established a gap over the chasing pack of Scott, Manuell, Paul Pedersen and Radisich. From his qualifying position of seventh, having been hampered by an ill-performing carburettor during qualifying, Radisich passed Pedersen, while Edgell, who’d scored a V8 career best when he qualified in sixth, appeared to be pushed off the circuit and dropped well down the field.

On lap five McIntyre snatched the inside line from Booth at the hairpin to give himself the full distance of the long main straight to sling-shot past Booth, then pulled out a handy lead as Scott battled to get past Booth.

Fogg climbed eleventh to duel with Paul Pedersen in sixth and seventh until Manuell had a big lock-up in the Orix Holden at the end of the main straight which allowed Radisich, and then Fogg past. Having issues with the new uni-ball suspension modification authorised for the Holdens, Booth dropped from second to fifth in a matter of seconds.

Unable to set a qualifying time on Friday as his team waited on the delivery of a new engine, David Besnard started the 14 lap race from the back of the 32 car-strong grid. He gained one or two places every lap to put the SCG Motorsport Ford in a very credible eleventh place by the second to last lap until a heart-breaking miscalculation of fuel usage saw the car run out of fuel. Determined to cross the line, Besnard used the starter motor to propel the car forward at barely walking pace for nearly half a lap, but the slight uphill slope to the finish line ultimately defeated him. Besnard’s team-mate John Penny suffered the same fuel-shortfall and was also unable to finish.

After 14 hot and very dusty laps, McIntyre took a well-earned win, the maximum 75 points and a new lap record of 1:36.928 to earn himself pole position for Sunday’s 18 lap race. Scott finished second, holding second in the championship behind McIntyre. Radisich was third to close up on Fogg in the points’ table. Fogg was fourth, Booth fifth, Paul Pedersen sixth, Manuell seventh with the hard-battling trio of Mark Pedersen (no relation to Paul), Dean Perkins and Clark Proctor rounding out the top ten.

McIntyre said that after seven or eight laps, the wind and cars going off the circuit meant there was a lot of dust moving across the racing line.

Scott said he wasn’t alone amongst the V8 drivers when commenting about the changes to the sequence of corners at the end of the main straight. “That corner has done away with a fantastic passing opportunity for our class. You could get three-wide through there and then see what happened! Now we essentially have to follow through in single file.”

Radisich was pleased with third, given it’s the first time he’s raced on the revamped Taupo circuit. “We did have some technical issues yesterday, but we got a good start for a consistent race and third place.”

Race 2

McIntyre was on pole for race two – a 18-lapper early on Sunday afternoon – but the BP Ultimate Ford driver didn’t have things all his own way when, from the second row of the grid, Booth snuck the Tasman Motorsport Holden onto the inside line, forcing McIntyre wide on the very first corner.

Booth emerged the race leader just seconds later and looked all set to take his – and Holden’s – first win of the season. In fact, the two-time former V8 champion did cross the line in first place, but later officials concluded his driving behaviour on that first corner wasn’t appropriate, due to contact being made between Booth and McIntyre’s cars, and penalised him by adding 50 seconds to his total race time, dropping him to 14th place and awarding the win to McIntyre.

Behind the intense Booth-McIntyre duel, Scott piloted the Fujitsu Ford to close up on the pair time after time, but just two laps from the end, suffered a debilitating gearbox issue which left him unable to finish better than seventh. Fogg started fourth and finished second, improving his overall championship position. Radisich bought the HPM Ford home in third place with Manuell and Paul Pedersen making up the top five; Manuell the only driver in a Holden.

Besnard again delivered an exhilarating drive in race two. Starting in 28th, the V8 Supercar regular executed another finely-judged race to come through and finish eighth.

Race 3

With the starting grid determined by adding the points earned in the first two races, then reversing the order, Auckland driver Kevin Williams was on pole with Taupo’s John Penny alongside him – again, a Holden/Ford front row. Series leader McIntyre was at the very back of the 33-strong grid with fellow top-runners Fogg, Booth, Radisich, Scott and Manuell arranged in front of him.

Besnard came through the field in the other SCG Motorsport Ford from 19th and, from 27th, Paul Pedersen was making short work of slower drivers as he charged towards the front. Pedersen, a former V8 champion, hasn’t been racing in this season’s V8 series but returned to this event as part of an International Motorsport plan to have two high profile cars in contention. Pedersen was driving the Ford driven by Fogg previously, while Fogg was in a brand-new Havoline Ford.

After a brief stint in the lead by Penny, Williams determinedly kept to the front lap after lap despite frequent attacks from Besnard and Pedersen. When the only safety car intervention in the three V8 races was required to extract Dale Lambert from the gravel, Besnard and Pedersen were able to close on Williams. A tremendous battle for the lead eventually saw Pedersen in front and through to take the chequered flag. Besnard’s car slowed dramatically and he could only finish 23rd. Williams held on for a well-deserved second place, while Booth had charged from 23rd into third to improve his overall championship placing to fifth equal with team-mate Paul Manuell who was unable to finish the race after solid performances earlier in the weekend.

Dean Perkins came from 18th into fourth in the GT Radial Ford while Cameron McLean piloted the Tex Onsite Ford from 24th to fifth. Powerbuilt Ford driver Luke Youlden had a better run in the third race, coming from 20th into ninth.

Two-time world touring car champion Paul Radisich hasn’t been enamoured with the reverse grid format, saying: “It’s silly racing; it’s not racing. Dodgem’s racing maybe.” After a 22nd place in the final race, Radisich finished the weekend holding fourth place in the series.

McIntyre’s seventh place was enough to give him the round win and a 105 point lead in the overall championship, and Clark Proctor, Cam Hardy and Andrew Porter rounded out the top ten in a race where more cars incurred damage than has been seen previously this season.