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Promising start fails to deliver for lesters 07 Leading into the opening round of the 2007 North Island Endurance Series, father and son pairing Richard and Jono Lester were looking forward to the challenge that lay ahead of them. The duo were to compete in a 1999 Porsche GT3, and early signs were very promising, with both the Lesters topping the timesheets for Friday practice. This early form continued through to qualifying, first with Richard posting a 1m 14.00s lap, followed up by Jono with a 1m 13.40s effort. Both these times were sufficient to put the GT3 on pole position for the pending 4-hour event, in front of eventual second place qualifier Harry Dodson in his Nissan Skyline. “It’s the perfect start”, the pair exclaimed soon after. “We’ve done exactly what we came here to do, and that’s put her on pole and set out to lead from the front in the race.” Unfortunately, the race didn’t pan out exactly as planned. The last thing that would be expected to plague the Lester pair would be mechanical gremlins – they were in a Porsche, after all. Richard led away from the front, controlling a small gap over second placed teammate Mack Storey, campaigning his Porsche GT2 Turbo. The pair galloped away from the chasing pack, hitting lapped traffic early, but disposing with it with relative ease. That was until a mysterious flat spot in the engine of the GT3 dropped the car onto five cylinders near the one-hour mark, forcing Lester to pit to attend to the problem. While the coil packs were being replaced, Jono jumped into the hot seat, and set off on a charge to regain lost time – eating into the leaders’ lap times by over two seconds a lap. The trouble wasn’t over yet, however, as Lester began developing gear selection issues on only the second lap of his stint; the eventual outcome being retirement from the race after completing 70 laps, with no 3rd, 4th or 5th gear to speak of. “It’s pretty disappointing”, Jono later said. “The race was there to be won, and no doubt we had the pace, but the old girl just didn’t seem to have the energy.” Richard later stated that the pair ‘weren’t thrashing the car’ in attempt to pull a massive gap on the field. “If anything, we were trying to conserve our tyres in case we needed to make a late charge toward the end.” Though the pair failed to complete the event, the car’s owner Peter Henry was very pleased at the potential of his new investment, and looks forward to jumping in himself, possibly for the next event at Taupo in a fortnight, if he feels up to the task. Until then, the Motorsport Services crew will rip into repairing the Porsche GT3 and making it as sturdy and reliable as ever, with a goal of taking out the second round of the three round series staged at the Taupo Motorsport Park on May 19th. It’s a view shared by all involved; the Lesters are just going to have to want it that little bit more.
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