Suzuki’s Turley snatches late pole at Teretonga

Media release: Suzuki Swift Sport Cup
For immediate release: Saturday 15 January 2011.
Round three: 2010/2011 Suzuki Swift Sport Cup – The Zoagn 500 – Teretonga Park, Invercargill 14 – 16 January 2011.
Suzuki’s Turley snatches late pole at Teretonga

Suzuki Swift Sporting Cup series leader Mike Turley (Coatsville, Auckland) snatched pole late in today’s qualifying session at Invercargill’s Teretonga circuit for the afternoon 30-lap endurance race.

The third round of six in the 2010/2011 summer race championship season, Turley languished mid-pack for most of the session while Lower Hutt’s Grant Ryan and 15-year-old Tom Barker (Christchurch) shared the front-row potential race start positions.

Managing to get enough of a drafting ‘tow’ from a car in front allowed Turley to set a time of 1min13.195sec around the 2.61 kilometre circuit, 0.035sec faster than Ryan.

“It was all a bit of a surprise. I figured I’d finish up mid-pack but got one good run toward the end that did it, that I got to be that little bit quicker,” said Turley.

Again illustrating how fiercely competitive the 17-car field is, 13 of the 1600cc Suzuki Swift’s set a fastest time within 0.528 second of Turley.

“It’s just amazing,” said series co-ordinator Paul Burborough. “You expect ten cars to maybe spread by a second, but to have more than that at half a second shows how hard everyone is pushing.”

Bumped to start second for the afternoon race, Ryan held the top-spot for most of the 20 minute session. Third fastest, Castrol Scholarship winner Tom Barker was elated at his time, 0.059 second away from Turley in his first drive of the world’s most southern race circuit.

Rangiora’s Chris Cox set 11th fastest time following a harrowing start to his weekend. With both parents hospitalised in a road accident on their way to Teretonga on Thursday, Suzuki New Zealand motorsport manager Darren Stevens praised the 18-year-old’s result.

“Our thoughts are with the Cox family, who have had their weekend plans badly disrupted. Chris is doing remarkably well at coping and we wish his parents a speedy recovery so they can return track-side and see how well their son is going.

The afternoon’s 30-lap endurance race includes a compulsory pit-stop where teams must remove and replace one wheel on the car. Expecting to take 24-30 seconds to complete, the stakes are further raised with double points on offer for the finishers. Sunday’s first race, of 10-laps, starts at 10:45am and is followed by the full-reverse grid 12-lap race beginning at 2:20pm.

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Qualifying for Round 3, 2010/11 Suzuki Swift Sport Cup

1, Mike Turley, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:13.195
2, Grant Ryan, Lower Hutt, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:13.230
3, Tom Barker, Christchurch, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:13.254
4, Jamie Gaskin, Upper Hutt, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:13.312
5, AJ Lauder, Turua, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:13.333
6, Rob Gibson, Taupo, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:13.369
7, Daniel Liemburg, Timaru, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:13.515
8, Rex McCutcheon, Waiuku, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:13.532
9, Ben Erickson, Christchurch, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1.13.628
10, Dane Fisher, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:13.680
11, Chris Cox, Rangiora, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:13.698
12, Shaun Lawrence, Hamilton, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:13.717
13, Marc Spring, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:13.723
14, Sam Barry, Takapau, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:14.377
15, Mark Gibson, Taupo, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:14.709
16, Brad Lauder, Turua, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:14.716
17, Amy Vincent, Papakura, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:15.191

Suzuki Swift Sporting Cup points – after round two of six.
1 6 Mike Turley Auckland 369
2 87 A.J. Lauder Turua 327
3 35 Mark Gibson Taupo 302
4 41 Jamie Gaskin Upper Hutt 291
5 91 Dane Fisher Auckland 283
6 11 Grant Ryan Lower Hutt 256
7 5 Rex McCutcheon Waiuku 236
8 89 Marc Spring Auckland 224
9 14 Shaun Lawrence Hamilton 209
10 12 Chris Cox Rangiora 197
11 23 Daniel Liemburg Timaru 188
12 4 Tom Barker Christchurch 172
13 15 Brad Lauder Turua 171
14 71 Sam Barry Takapau 169
15 27 Allan Jarvis Brisbane 151
16 34 Rob Gibson Taupo 140
17 22 Amy Vincent Papakura 138
18 7 Ryan Bailey Auckland 135
19 10 Ben Erickson Christchurch 80

Suzuki Swift Sport Cup calendar 2010/2011
Round Date Venue Inviting Club
1 5-7 November 2010 Pukekohe NZIGP Inc
2 26-28 November 2010 Ruapuna Canterbury Car Club Inc
3 14-16 January 2011 Teretonga Southland Sports Car Club Inc
4 20-23 January 2011 Timaru South Canterbury Car Club Inc
5 11-13 February 2011 Manfeild Manawatu Car Club Inc
6 11-13 March 2011 Taupo Taupo Car Club Inc
Photo images:
• Fastest in qualifying for today’s Suzuki Swift Sporting Cup 30-lap endurance race around the Teretonga race circuit near Invercargill was Auckland’s Mike Turley. Photo: Geoff Ridder http://www.comtechnology.co.nz/suzuki/r3/SSSC_Teretonga_Turley_11264.jpg

About the cars:
Road legal, the identical Suzuki Swift cars in the Suzuki Swift Sport Cup are fitted with additional safety equipment (roll-cage, seats, belts, fire extinguisher), performance suspension, brake pads and front differential. Utilising the standard engine computer, they produce 92kW power at 6800rpm with 148Nm torque at 4800rpm from the 1600cc engine (1586cc).
With a minimum weight of 1125kg, the cars have no other modifications, with teams only able to make minor adjustments to suspension alignment to optimise handling and performance for the track and/or conditions. Each team is allocated the use of four Dunlop Direzza 03G (R spec) 215 / 45 – 17”road tyres for each race weekend.
For further information: www.swiftcup.co.nz

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