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Leading the points chase for the
2007-08 New Zealand V8s Championship by a handy, but not insurmountable 79
points, defending V8s champion John McIntyre says he’s using last year’s
high-pressure win to help him get through this season’s final six
races.
With the two final rounds taking
place one weekend after another – the VnC Cocktails 200 at Timaru on 1-2 March
and the Hydraulink 200 finale at Teretonga on 8-9 March – the pressure doesn’t
stop for McIntyre and his fellow competitors and their teams in terms of race
car preparation and driver focus.
“These last two rounds will require
me and the whole John McIntyre Racing team to have made the best possible mental
preparation. We’ll be drawing on the experience of winning last year’s
championship under immense pressure in the very final race of the season,” says
McIntyre.
The JMR team is busy stripping and
checking the BP Ultimate Ford before leaving their Hasting workshop on Wednesday
27 February for the long drive to Timaru.
Angus
Fogg holds second place, with 658 points
to McIntyre’s 737 as the New Zealand V8s go into their final two rounds. There’s
no one more aware than Fogg of how difficult it is to claw back points.
“It’s very easy to lose points
against another driver, but hard to gain them back,” says the Havoline Ford
driver who delivered an outstanding performance at the last round at Manfeild
when he set his first pole position of the season, won two races, set a new lap
record and won the round overall. His Manfeild efforts enabled Fogg to reduce
McIntyre’s advantage from 105 points to 79 points.
There’s undoubtedly no other driver
competing in the New Zealand V8s who’ll have had as much recent racing as former
V8s champion Kayne Scott, who holds third place with 621 points.
Not only will Scott be racing in the
opening round of the Australian V8 Supercars in Adelaide for Team Kiwi Racing the weekend before Timaru, he
also raced on the popular South Canterbury
circuit in January this year in the New Zealand Super Truck Championship, which
he currently leads.
“We used the reverse grid race at
Manfeild as a test session for the Fujitsu Ford,” says Scott. “We were rapt with
how the car responded. This will be the platform for our starting setup for
Timaru where we are the current lap record holder.”
But is racing several different
vehicles a good thing? Fifth-placed Paul
Manuell wonders whether Scott will be as focused as he could be
on the New Zealand V8s when he gets to Timaru. “This could leave a podium spot
up for grabs,” quips the former V8s champion who is currently the best placed
Holden driver in the series with 509 points.
Ahead of Manuell in fourth place
with 520 points is Paul Radisich, who
will be looking to his HPM Racing team to iron out some of the technical issues
that have made his season challenging. Radisich summarised the Manfeild as: “It
was just one of those weekends where it didn’t really happen – you’ve just got
to work at it.”
After official test sessions on
Friday 29 February, the VnC Cocktails 200 at Timaru will see the V8s complete
their qualifying sessions from 12:30pm on Saturday 1 March with their first 14
lap race at 4:30pm that day. They contest their second race at midday on Sunday
2 March and then wrap up the weekend’s motorsport action with a full reverse
grid 22 lap race about 4:15pm that afternoon.
The Teretonga finale – the
Hydraulink 200 – takes place over the weekend of 8 and 9 March.
The First Windows and Doors V8s
Development Series also contests both the Timaru and Teretonga rounds, making
back-to-back weekends full of V8s racing for New Zealand’s southern-most race
circuits.
Visit the New Zealand V8s website -
www.nzv8s.co.nz - for more information about the New Zealand V8s Championship,
the First Windows and Doors V8s Development Series, and full programme and
ticket details.
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