More cash on offer for ASKO SI Endurance Series

More cash on offer for ASKO SI Endurance Series

With just under two months to go until the ASKO Appliances South Island Endurance Series kicks off, the Series is thrilled to announce another fantastic package and great range of entries for its 2012 Series.

Thanks to the series’ loyal partner ASKO Appliances, along with support from Allied lubricants - Mobil 1, Hagley Aluminum, Paul Kelly Motor Company and Southern Finance, the series will again see a substantial prizemoney pool on offer for the 2012 ASKO Appliances South Island Endurance Series. As well as a staggering $30,000 in cash prizemoney, there is also a magnificent Norman Sinclair original painting worth $10,000 and a set of tyres from Michelin that will be given away as spot prizes, plus prizes from Cobra Car Security up for grabs. There are also many other prizes & awards on offer across all the classes in both the 3 hour & 1 hour Series’, as well as great silverware on offer with the main prize being the coveted South Canterbury Toyota Cup for the overall series winners. There are also trophies including the Southern RV under 2 litre challenge and the Matt Heagney Memorial for first 4cyl home plus trophies for all class winners in both the 3 hour & 1 hour series’. “We are really thrilled to be able to offer another incredible package, and thanks really go out to our fabulous sponsors” said series secretary Chris Dunn. “We will again have some serious prize money to give away plus magnificent prizes & spot prizes. Team this up with some truly awesome cars & some gun drivers and the season is shaping up to be absolutely brilliant!”

With all of the top 12 teams from the 2011 3 hour Series looking to return for 2012 they will be joined by some terrific drivers and fabulous cars. 2011 Champion Paul Kelly will return and has lined up young gun Daniel Gaunt as co-diver, but these guys will be pushed hard by the return of the awesome V8 Supercar of Matt & Dwayne Carter plus a brand spanking new Ferrari 458 Challenge for Tim O’Connor. Add in International Endurance Driver Jono Lester, kart & TRS star Matt Hamilton and the likes of Scott O’Donnell, Mike & Sedon Baker, Peter van Eekelen & Danny Whiting all in 997 GT3’s and it will be a very classy field. 2010 Series Champion Allan Dippie will campaign one of a handful of 996 GT3’s and as always there are the popular kiwi built V8 & turbo hybrids, factory prepped Touring cars and all manner of man & machinery lining up for the series. As always there are some great new cars competing including the proposed race debut for the new generation NZV8 with Tulloch Motorsport looking to enter the series with their brand new MRX Commodore, Taupo pairing Rick & Deon Cooper will run their new Boss Mustang and the wicked Corvette C6R from Bruce Davidson & Dave Garden will hopefully be completed in time for round One.

As well as its traditional 3 hour races, the Club will again be hosting a separate 1 hour race at each of its three rounds, with a separate overall & class championships on offer. The 1 hour Series also has a great range of cars and entrants ranging from schoolboy racer 15 year old Mitchell van Eekelen’s BMW E30 to NZ’s oldest competing licence holder John Cottier’s Starlet, giving an age gap of over 60 years between competitors. The 1 hour series also has a great range of cars, from some V8’s in the big class through to a mix of Evo’s, WRX’s and BMW’s through to Starlet’s, Civics’ & Mirage’s in the lower capacity classes, with nearly every brand of car represented.

Both the 1 hour & 3 hour series’ will run over three rounds, one at each of the South Island’s permanent race circuits. The 1 hour series will start at Christchurch’s Powerbuilt Ruapuna on 16th September then Invercargill’s Teretonga Park on September 29th, with Levels Raceway Timaru hosting the 1 hour season finale on October 13th. The 3 hour series will kick off at Teretonga on September 29th with round Two at Levels also on October 13th, and the 3 hour finale will be held at Powerbuilt Ruapuna on November 24th as a support race to the V8 SuperTourer Endurance weekend.

With the 3 hour & 1 hour races separated, both series’ will still have 5 separate racing classes with cars divided into four capacity based classes being, Class 4: 0-1600cc, Class 3: 1601-2000cc, Class 2: 2001-3500cc and class 1: 3501cc and over, plus a ‘GT’ class for the Porsche GT3’s, V8 Supercars and other exotic cars in the field.

The 2012 ASKO Appliances South Island Endurance Series is proudly supported by ASKO Appliances, Southern Finance, Paul Kelly Motor Company, Hagley Aluminum and Allied lubricants – Mobil 1.

Competitors can register their interest by contacting SIERDC Secretary Chris Dunn via e-mail at sierdc@xtra.co.nz, and any potential competitors, crews or supporters are welcome to be added to the clubs e-mailing list by simply sending an e-mail to sierdc@xtra.co.nz or you can follow the series build-up on facebook at www.facebook.com/sierdc

ENDS

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