Mark Gibson Takes Aim At Full V8 Challenge Cup Season

MEDIA RELEASE
14 FEBRUARY 2013

Mark Gibson Takes Aim At Full V8 Challenge Cup Season

After testing the water last year Taupo driver Mark Gibson is ready to embark on a full season in the V8 Challenge Cup which commences at Hampton Downs in north Waikato this weekend.

Gibson contested just two rounds of the series last year, hard on the heels of his Suzuki Swift Sport Cup campaign, but proved to be very competitive securing a best result of second place during his limited appearances.

This year he is back for a full tilt at the series which is a support category for the highly successful BNT V8SuperTourer Series. The 21-year-old Taupo driver will pilot his CB Norwood Distributors Falcon and his aims for 2013 are simple - become the V8 Challenge Cup champion and secure an endurance seat in a V8 SuperTourer later in the season.

"I am after the title and excited about the coming season," says Gibson.

Gibson brings with him a wealth of motorsport experience with seven years of moto-cross at both regional and national level, two seasons in the highly competitive Suzuki Swift Sport Cup Series plus appearances in the Australian Suzuki Swift Sport Cup Series and the North Island Endurance Series.

Gibson has reaped plenty of success thus far in his motorsport career. He was the Suzuki Swift Sport Cup Rookie Of The Year in 2010/2011, when he finished 4th overall and followed that with 3rd overall the following season. He has been 1st in the NZGP Suzuki Swift Sport Cup while in two years in the category he amassed a huge number of pole positions, race wins, podiums, fastest laps and a track record at Taupo Motorsport Park. He is also a Suzuki Swift Sport Cup winner in Australia. Mark was also the top graduate at the 2012 NZ Elite Motorsport Academy in Dunedin, a programme which puts graduates through their paces in a wide range of disciplines to prepare them for a career in professional motorsport.

Team Gibson Motorsport and JMR have joined forces in the race season leadup with JMR doing all the preparation work on the Team Gibson Motorsport Falcon. The Team Gibson brothers, Mark and Rob, have competed in the Suzuki Swift Sport Cup together in the past but this year while Mark competes in the V8 Challenge Cup Rob will be at the same venues contesting the UDC V8 Ute Series.

The Team Gibson Motorsport Falcon is supported by CB Norwood Distributors, Westerman Property Solutions, Supercrete Taupo, The Bay Bar and Brasserie, Taupo Times, Taupo Motorsport Park, Trev Terry Marine and the Mole & Chicken Taupo.

CALENDAR -- 2013 V8 CHALLENGE CUP
Round 1: 16/17 February 2013 - Hampton Downs, North Waikato
Round 2: 25/26 May 2013 - Pukekohe Park Raceway, South Auckland
Round 3: 31 August/1 September 2013 - Taupo Motorsport Park, Taupo
Round 4: 19/20 October 2013 - Hampton Downs, North Waikato
Round 5: 9/10 November 2013 - TBA, South Island
Round 6: 7/8 December 2013 - Pukekohe Park Raceway, South Auckland

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