Superior brake parts cleanerSuperior brake parts cleaner

SVG’s hot form makes him favourite for Hampton Downs enduro

V8 SuperTourers

V8 SuperTourers11:08am 29 October 2014

Simon_Shane_pole

Shane Van Gisbergen is in red-hot form as he heads to this weekend’s TR Group Waikato 400 at Hampton Downs, round two of the 2014-15 BNT NZ SuperTourers championship, Nov 1-2.

Van Gisbergen teamed up with his old friend and fellow Aucklander, Simon Evans, to dominate the first round of the championship at Taupo in September, and they start as clear favourites for the second endurance round in Evans’ Holden.

In between the two New Zealand events Van Gisbergen again showed his great speed and car control on Australasia’s main V8 stage, the 1000km race on the Mount Panorama circuit at Bathurst and the Gold Coast 600 over the weekend – where he achieved a pole position and race win.

At Bathurst, he qualified on pole, broke the lap record and was leading near the end – till the final pit-stop, when his Holden stalled and would not restart because of a starter motor failure. After losing three laps, he finished 16th but retained fourth place in the V8 Supercar championship.

“We had a fantastic car at the end, so I’m pretty gutted really,” he said after the race.

And Evans is now one of the top resident Kiwi drivers, as he proved when he made the break that set up the duo’s victory in race one at Taupo, so the pair will be hard to beat.

But Van Gisbergen is not the only young Kiwi to make an impression at Bathurst. Hamilton’s Ant Pedersen and Aucklander Andre Heimgartner, who stand second and third respectively in the New Zealand championship, were on course to finish sixth till they also hit a late setback, a miscalculation by the crew forcing them to stop for extra fuel right at the end.

In the BNT NZ SuperTourers endurance rounds, Pedersen shares his Ford with former A1GP hero Jonny Reid while Heimgartner’s co-driver for his Holden is Aussie veteran Paul Morris, who won Bathurst with Chaz Mostert.

Reigning champion Greg Murphy needs to get back to the top of the podium as he and Aussie Jack Perkins failed to finish the first race at Taupo, their Holden damaged by contact with another car. Murphy and James Courtney, racing for the Holden Racing Team, had finished second in the Sandown 500, the lead-up event for Bathurst, but setbacks in the big race left them 13th at the end.

More Australian V8 Supercar drivers join the fray with Cameron Waters (co-driving with Mitch Cunningham), Steve Owen (Tim Edgell), Tony D’Alberto (Angus Fogg) and Dale Wood (Dominic Storey) all crossing the Tasman for the weekend.

“The level of competition in the BNT NZ SuperTourers is very high,” Heimgartner says.

The Hampton Downs meeting will put an extra emphasis on teams’ strategy decisions as the long races will require fuel stops. The timing of these stops could make a big difference to the outcome of these races, especially if there are safety-car periods.

Saturday sees one 40-minute race and Sunday two races of 75 minutes each.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Renee Gracie eyes V8 SuperTourers start

5:20pm 16 January 2015

Stuff.co.nz
1

Untitled-1_9

The new zealand supertourer series could have its first female driver with australian renee gracie completing a successful test…  More >

Hyundai SuperTourer set for future in GT racing

12:08am 20 December 2014

MotorNews.co.nz
6

10846480_672258396226089_7907249746441394864_n

The long rumoured hyundai i45 nz supertourer has taken to the track for the first time today at manfeild…  More >

Greg Murphy quits the NZ SuperTourers

10:03am 1 December 2014

NZ Herald
3

SCCZEN_A_19032014HOSJADMURPHY23_620x310

The final round of the endurance component of the nz supertourers at pukekohe yesterday saw a changing of the…  More >

Evans and SVG close in on SuperTourers title

3:05am 30 November 2014

Stuff.co.nz
0

10842393

Shane van gisbergen and simon evans have one hand on the trophy for the new zealand supertourers endurance series…  More >

Mark Gibson is on the NZST pathway

3:43pm 26 November 2014

V8 SuperTourers
0

10834964_738240386261372_6161380784958474971_o

Young racing driver mark gibson is accelerating his way to the top as he becomes a real contender in…  More >

Moore/Slade take the round, Evans/SVG star at Hampton Downs

11:06am 3 November 2014

V8 SuperTourers
0

Hampton_Downs_start

Great speed and rotten luck again marked shane van gisbergen and simon evans racing in the bnt nz supertourers…  More >

RACE COUNTDOWN

NZV8

Round 4

Teretonga Park, Invercargill, 25 January

V8 SuperTourers

Round 4

Waikato 250, Hampton Downs, 31 January

NZV8

Round 5

Manfeild Circuit, Feilding, 15 February

Indycars

Round 1

Brasilia Indy 300, Brasilia, 1 March

V8 Supercars

Round 1

Clipsal 500, Adelaide, 1 March

  • Latest story comments

  • CRC Motornews poll

    Who do you think will be top of the Kiwi in the 2014 V8 Supercars?

      View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...
  • Newsletter icon

    Get the latest motorsport news delivered to your inbox