Ross Confident of Yet Another Strong Result at Timaru

As the Concept Motorsport Team continually work on improving the performance of the Total Lubricants Commodore, Cambridge driver Nick Ross also continues to better his results and this weekend looks to the Timaru International Motor Raceway for yet more top 10 placings from the tricky, technical track.

"As always we will be chasing the top 10 and the car is performing well so we will see what happens. The Concept Motorsport engine is doing well and we are still working on the new Controlled Parts they have supplied to the Holden Teams to get the best out of them." says Ross.

The tight circuit at Timaru is always very popular with the local racing fans attracting some of the largest crowds the series sees year after year.

The track consistently produces close and aggressive racing from the headlining BNT V8s and is a popular fixture for Ross who has achieved top results there over the previous two seasons. There he has qualified in the top 10 with best finishes of sixth and seventh in the highly competitive formula.

Last weekend the Motorsport New Zealand Premier Series resumed at Invercargill's Teretonga Park Raceway after the Christmas break. A popular circuit with the drivers, Ross and the team had a hard weekend at the world's southernmost circuit coming away with a mixed bag of results.

A knife-edged qualifying session saw Ross just 0.123 of a second outside of contesting the top 10 shootout and lined up on the start grid in 15th place for race one.

"The car was on the pace but we had a little trouble setting it up for one of the corners which lost us a bit of lap time with locking up the wheel under braking." says Ross.

The opening race of the weekend was going well for Ross who was challenging for 12th position when a coming together with himself and Eddie Bell ended with Bell going off the circuit and rolling over on to his roof which then resulted in a red flag and temporary race stoppage.

Ross was given a drive through penalty for the incident, although serving the drive through and finishing race one in 18th, he was recorded as a DNF in the results for the race and given an additional six place grid penalty for race three, as part of the penalty handed down.

"Eddie knew it wasn't on purpose so there's no hard feelings but he was disappointed. He had dropped a wheel off the track, I had a run on him but he came back down on me and I knocked him. I hardly felt it but it was enough to put him off." said Ross.

"The second race we started from the back and made up a few spots. We started the final race in ninth position, and some of the cars ahead decided they wanted to play dodgems before the first turn so I laid back and let them sort themselves out - there were three or four cars heading off in different directions but we got through alright."

Ross managed to make up the positions lost in the first laps to cross the finish line in ninth place.

This weekend at Timaru International Motor Raceway the practice and qualification sessions are held on Saturday with the exciting Top 10 Shootout in the afternoon.

All three BNT V8s races are to be held on Sunday with same day coverage on TV3.

ENDS

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