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As the New Zealand V8s prepare to contest the final three rounds of their 2007-08 season, the onus is on Angus Fogg and Kayne Scott to stop defending New Zealand V8s champion John McIntyre running away with this season’s title.

Going into the most recent round at Taupo in January, BP Ultimate Ford driver McIntyre had a lead of 51 points over Scott, the 2005-06 New Zealand V8s champion. After Taupo’s action-packed – and panel-damaging – three races, Fogg had moved into second place on the leader-board with 469 points and McIntyre managed to extend his lead to 105 points, with a total of 574. Scott holds third with 464 points.

News that Scott has signed with Team Kiwi Racing to contest the 2008 Australian V8 Supercar Championship set up a potential date clash with the final round of the New Zealand V8s Championship at Teretonga and the Eastern Creek round of the Supercars both on 8-9 March. However Scott says he is wholeheartedly committed to completing the New Zealand V8s series. “The New Zealand V8 series played a big part in getting me to this point in my career and I’m a huge advocate for the series in Australia, particularly around some of our cost prevention measures. I’ll be racing at the final round at Teretonga, acknowledging the support of many sponsors and fans. Team Kiwi is currently looking at putting another young kiwi driver behind the wheel for Eastern Creek.”

The Fujitsu 200 at Manfeild on 15-17 February is the fourth of the six round New Zealand V8s Championship, meaning the competitors have only three rounds left to improve their overall places for the 2007-08 season.

Fogg, who races the Havoline Ford, says after fixing the panel damage to his newly-built Ford, he’s been concentrating on getting two engines ready to race. “We’ve done no further testing, but we were happy with the car at Taupo. It was pretty good straight out of the box. Even with the borrowed engine we ran at Taupo, we could hang on to Johnny, Andy [Booth] and Kayne. We went pretty well at Manfeild last year, but the fact is we need to step up and deliver the results or this championship is gone.”

McIntyre’s Hawke’s Bay-based team has had a lot of work to do since Taupo. “We’ve replaced two doors, the rear bumper, side skirts, front spoiler, under-tray, radiator, boot section, fuel cell, gear box internals and have rebuilt the engine!” says McIntyre, who lost virtually all the team’s spare parts and spare engine after Pukekohe’s opening round when their truck caught fire and has only just finished replacing all the spares.

Scott says the Fujitsu Ford still has a lot of potential for improvement. “Remember other teams have had several seasons with the Ford chassis; we’ve had only three rounds and at every round the team has made meaningful gains with the car. We’ve been on the front row of the grid for the last two rounds; we’re excited that there’s more to come from this car yet.”

A new regulation regarding the mounting of the Ford’s rear sway-bar also gave McIntyre and several other Ford teams another job to complete.

New Zealand V8s series co-ordinator David Slater explains: “The technical department was asked a question regarding the mounting of the rear sway-bar on the Fords. Some (15) had mounted it on the axle housing and others (seven) had mounted it on the chassis. The latter was never the intent and the committee decided to modify the wording of the rule to make it clearer. Holdens have the bar mounted on the axle so, with the clarification, both marques are the same.”

Statistics from the first half of the New Zealand V8s’ 2007-08 season clearly exhibit McIntyre’s commanding position at the top of the points’ table. From nine races at three rounds, McIntyre has secured five wins, two fourth places, a fifth and a seventh; he’s finished in the top ten in every single race. Fogg, Scott, Paul Manuell and Clark Proctor have each had eight top ten finishes. Paul Radisich, Paul Pedersen and Adam Brook are the only drivers other than McIntyre to have won a race this season; Radisich with two wins to his credit and seven top ten finishes to hold fourth place on the points’ table. McIntyre, Radisich and Andy Booth have set pole at the first three events.

Booth, a two-time V8 champion, holds fifth equal place with team-mate Paul Manuell; the pair are the leading Holdens drivers in a Ford-dominated field.

Booth says he can’t wait to hit the track at Manfeild. “Everyone on the Tasman Motorsport New Zealand crew is looking forward to continuing the strong form displayed at Taupo. Our championship hopes were obviously harmed by having the win taken off us in Taupo, but we’ve certainly been buoyed by all the support and encouragement received from the public and other competitors who felt that the penalty was overly harsh and unjustified. We’re now focused on winning as many races as we can between now and the end of the season. We’re also looking forward to rolling out an exciting new look on the Tasman Motorsport Holden Commodore for the last three rounds.”

After the high speed crash that took him out of the opening round, Andrew Anderson’s new Holden will debut at Manfeild. With a loan car from fellow V8s competitor Nick Ross, Anderson was able to contest the second and third rounds and deliver some top 15 finishes. With the brand-new Pinepac ITM Commodore complete after weeks of hard work from the AV8 Motorsport team, Anderson says he’s confident of a solid result at Manfeild next weekend. “With the latest Holden Commodore chassis and AV8 Motorsport technology at their disposal, we’re determined to feature strongly in the second half of the season which sees teams complete the final three rounds of the championship in a four-week window.”

The Bartercard Racing team has announced that Eddie Bell will no longer drive for the team, but a new driver has not been confirmed at this point.

The Fujitsu 200 at Manfeild will see the V8s complete their qualifying sessions from midday on Saturday 16 March with their first 14 lap race at 3:45pm that day. They contest their second race at midday on Sunday 17 March and then wrap up the weekend’s motorsport action with a full reverse grid 22 lap race about 4pm that afternoon. Visit www.nzv8s.co.nz for more information about the New Zealand V8s Championship or ticket details.

New Zealand V8s Championship: Expected entry list for Manfeild

Driver, Hometown, Car

Chris Adams, Mosgiel, Holden Commodore VY

Andrew Anderson, Auckland, Holden Commodore VY

David Besnard, Gold Coast, Ford Falcon BA

Andy Booth, Auckland, Holden Commodore VZ

Adam Brook, Christchurch, Ford Falcon BA

Tim Edgell, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA

Andrew Fawcet, Wellington, Ford Falcon BA

Angus Fogg, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA

Cam Hardy, Hamilton, Holden Commodore VZ

Julia Huzziff, Auckland, Holden Commodore VY

Dale Lambert, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA

Haydn Mackenzie, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA

Paul Manuell, Auckland, Holden Commodore VZ

John McIntyre, Nelson, Ford Falcon BA

Connel McLaren, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA

Cameron McLean, Brisbane, Ford Falcon BA

Mark Pedersen, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA

John Penny, Taupo, Ford Falcon BA

Dean Perkins, Pukekohe, Ford Falcon BA

Andrew Porter, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA

Clark Proctor, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA

Paul Radisich, Melbourne, Ford Falcon BA

Simon Richards, Hamilton, Ford Falcon BA

Nick Ross, Cambridge, Holden Commodore VZ

Kayne Scott, Hamilton, Ford Falcon BA

Dave Stewart, Wellington, Holden Commodore VY

Inky Tulloch, Gore, Ford Falcon BA

Shaun Turton, Pukekohe, Holden Commodore VY

Michael Wallace, Dunedin, Holden Commodore VY

Kevin Williams, Auckland, Holden Commodore VZ

Luke Youlden, Melbourne, Ford Falcon BA

TBA, Bartercard Racing Holden Commodore VY

New Zealand V8s Championship: Points after 3 of 6 rounds

Position, Driver, Hometown, Car, Points

1, John McIntyre, Nelson, Ford Falcon BA, 574

2, Angus Fogg, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA, 469

3, Kayne Scott, Hamilton, Ford Falcon BA, 464

4, Paul Radisich, Melbourne, Ford Falcon BA, 449

5=, Andy Booth, Auckland, Holden Commodore VZ, 375

5=, Paul Manuell, Auckland, Holden Commodore VZ, 375

7, Cameron McLean, Brisbane, Ford Falcon BA, 334

8, Clark Proctor, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA, 327

9, Dean Perkins, Pukekohe, Ford Falcon BA, 294

10, Luke Youlden, Melbourne, Ford Falcon BA, 230

11, David Besnard, Gold Coast, Ford Falcon BA, 187

12, Michael Wallace, Dunedin, Holden Commodore VY, 182

13, Cam Hardy, Hamilton, Holden Commodore VZ, 174

14, Kevin Williams, Auckland, Holden Commodore VZ, 172

15, Paul Pedersen, Rotorua, Ford Falcon BA, 169

16, Mark Pedersen, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA, 168

17, Simon Richards, Hamilton, Ford Falcon BA, 164

18, Andrew Fawcet, Wellington, Ford Falcon BA, 150

19, Haydn Mackenzie, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA, 148

20, Andrew Porter, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA, 130

21, Connel McLaren, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA, 130

22, Nick Ross, Cambridge, Holden Commodore VZ, 129

23, Dale Lambert, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA, 125

24, Adam Brook, Christchurch, Ford Falcon BA, 124

25, Tim Edgell, Auckland, Ford Falcon BA, 121

26, Chris Adams, Mosgiel, Holden Commodore VY, 105

27, Andrew Anderson, Auckland, Holden Commodore VY, 103

28, Eddie Bell, Christchurch, Holden Commodore VY, 79

29, Inky Tulloch, Gore, Ford Falcon BA, 77

30, John Penny, Taupo, Ford Falcon BA, 74

31, Dave Stewart, Wellington, Holden Commodore VY, 52

32, Darryn Henderson, Wellington, Holden Commodore VZ, 45

33, Shaun Turton, Pukekohe, Holden Commodore VY, 30

34, Julia Huzziff, Auckland, Holden Commodore VY, 17