Gaunt Favourite for Endurance

Fresh from his first win in the Battery Town Porsche GT3 championship at Teretonga over the weekend and finishing second overall in the series, Danial Gaunt will be difficult to beat this weekend as the ASKO Appliances South Island Endurance Series roars into life at the Powerbuilt Ruapuna Raceway.  With some of the top teams, drivers and cars in NZ Motorsport ready to battle it out in the annual Southern 300 3 hour endurance race, Gaunt is expected to pair with Ant Pedersen who finished third in the same series.

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There again is fantastic array of NZ’s top level drivers including current Porsche GT3 cup drivers Daniel Gaunt, Ant Pedersen, Timmy Martin, Richard Moore, Paul Kelly, Shane McKillen, Jodi Vincent & Mike Morton.  TRS drivers Andy Knight, Ben Harford & Ben Crighton, past NZ TraNZam champions Grant Silvester & Craig Gilbert, who is also a past SI Endurance Series champion, Truck & Motorcycle champion Johnny Hepburn along with top rally exponents Chris West, Lewis Scott, Garry Cliff & Jeff Judd.

You will also see the fastest ladies of South Island circuit racing, Super 6 pilot Clara Bond, Endurance regular Debbie Chapman and the Endurance Series first all women pairing of Pip Sutherland & Jo Giles. Plus over fifty other drivers including 2007 South Island Endurance Series champions Matt & Dwayne Carter, 2006 Champions Angus McFarlane/Michael Bushell & hopefully the debut of the new car of multiple series champions Graham Dodd/Grant Milligan.

This is the only series in the world where you see the Aussie V8 Supercar go head to head with the latest Porsche 997 GT3 and throw into the mix eight 996 GT3 Porsches, some Kiwi built American V8 muscle including the C5 Corvette & Camaro, plus the Kiwi hybrid turbo cars including Supra powered Levin & Altezza. Then of course there are the BMW SuperTourers and European spec 320i’s, two factory Renault Megane cup cars, the 4WD turbo cars in the form of Subaru WRX & Mitsi Evo, even a Falcon Ute, but not forgetting the Integra’s, Civic’s & Corolla’s that are embroiled in their own battle for class honors.

 With so many top car & driver combinations picking a race winner is near impossible, and the three big teams of NZ Motorsport (International Motorsport, Triple X Motorsport and Auckland based Motorsport Services) will all be very keen to see their cars on the podium. The ASKO Appliances catch phrase “built to last”, will ring true as there are up to 20 cars that have a genuine opportunity of a podium finish but as the old saying goes, to finish first, first you must finish.

After the opening round at Ruapuna, the ASKO Appliances SI Endurance Series moves to round two at Levels Raceway in Timaru on 29 March and the Grand Finale at Invercargill’s Teretonga Park Saturday 12th April 2008. The overall series champion will be awarded the ‘South Canterbury Toyota Cup’, plus an original watercolor painting by Dunedin artist Norman Sinclair valued at approx. $10,000-00. Prizes are also awarded in each of the four classes being McFarlane Group Developments 0-1600cc, Southern Finance Ltd 1601-2000cc, Hagley Building Products 2001-3500cc and Asko Appliances 3501cc and over.

Media: SB Networks; Photo: SportProMedia 10th Mar 08