NZV8 Touring Cars Return to Ruapuna with Strong Field

Media release: Monday 12th January 2015

NZV8 Touring Cars
www.nzv8touringcars.co.nz

NZV8 Touring Cars Return to Ruapuna with Strong Field

The NZV8 Touring Cars are back in full V8 powered action this weekend January 17-18 with a welcome and exciting return to Christchurch's Ruapuna Circuit now known as Mike Pero Motorsport Park.

A strong field will attend the first round of 2015 and the South Island with 10 TL cars and five TLX cars making up a sizeable grid of top performing race cars representing four brands of car manufacturers sporting an array of parity-tuned powerplants.

The roars and rumblings eminating from inside those various NZV8 Touring Car powerplants will warm the hearts of the motorsport fans in attendance and as always the action will keep all on the edge of their seats.

As some of the country's quickest drivers charge forward in a bid to claim the chequered flag as their own, bumpers and panels will be crunched and scraped in an ever aggressive NZV8TC style.

After just two rounds from six completed all drivers will all be looking to improve their standings on the points table while the season is still fresh and as yet completely up for grabs.

Leading TL category driver Kevin Williams from Auckland will not be competing in Christchurch therefore he leaves the door open for TKR's Craig Baird to move back into the lead after dropping to second place in round two at Pukekohe.

The Holden driver will be looking to Ruapuna for a decent haul of points after his winning the opening round of the series at Hampton Downs but not having much luck at Puekokohe.

Also strong at Hampton Downs with a third place overall but not looking back on his difficult weekend at Pukekohe before the Christmas break is Lower Hutt's James McLaughlin.

Showing speed at both rounds, it was a series of technical failures at Pukekohe which put the Holden driver down on the points table but he is looking at Ruapuna to get his mojo back and take on Baird along with the other strong drivers who have come into the series.

Although a far way down the table, McLaughlin was a main contender for the championship last season and has demonstrated to have the pace to keep Baird and all others honest.

Three new drivers join the series as the South Island leg begins with Grant Molloy and Liam McDonald both from Invercargill coming on board. Molloy showed good speed throughout last season gaining some podiums while McDonald won his home round at Invercragill this time last year.

Joining them is Wellington driver Jamie Gaskin with the fresh trio all competing in Ford Falcon TLs.

In the ever impressive NZV8 Touring Cars TLX category there will once again be action aplenty as Australia's Jason Bargwanna defends his lead in the series against defending 2013-14 champion Nick Ross.

Cambridge driver Ross who sits just 32 points behind will be looking at breaking Bargwanna's three race winning streak as the team work on extracting every last piece of performance they can out of a brand new racecar.

It will no doubt be another nail biting fight between the Toyota and Nissan as the teams work hard to bring their cars up to speed at a track which neither have raced their cars on before.

The two have once again become glued to each other in performance and can be expected to continue like this throughout yet another season.

Fellow Hamilton drivers Lance Hughes and Ian Booth have fought tooth and nail over the first two rounds holding third and fourth place respectively while new comer Australia's Scott Taylor has some catching up to do after joining the season at round two.

The NZV8 Touring Cars have not been to Ruapuna since the 2011-12 season and this will also be the first time the New Generation TLX cars have competed there since their inaugural 2013 season.

This will create an intertesting playing field for the TLX drivers and their teams who will have little to no stored information of the circuit relating to the new cars.

Many of the TL category drivers who are new to the series have also not raced there before although their cars most likely have done.

We are not only guaranteed an exciting weekend ahead for the NZV8 Touring Cars but one that will be highly unpredictable.

The upcoming weekend is also the first time this season that the NZV8 Touring Cars will meet up with their counterparts in the Motorsport New Zealand Championship series after sharing their first two meetings with the V8 Supertourers and V8 Utes.

After this weekend the NZV8 Touring Cars along with the rest of the championship series head to Invercargill's Teretonga Park for round four over January 24-25 and then Manfeild Park for the NZGP inFebruary 14-15.

ends

Championship Standings (after Round Two)
TLX
Jason Bargwanna Toyota Camry TLX 442
Nick Ross Nissan Altima TLX 410
Lance Hughes Holden Commodore TLX 342
Ian Booth Holden Commodore TLX 288
Scott Taylor Toyota Camry TLX 147
TL
Kevin WIlliams Holden Commodore TL 434
Craig Baird Holden Commodore TL 393
Steve Taylor Ford Falcon TL 313
Brad Lathrope Ford Falcon TL 306
Nathan Pilcher Holden Commodore TL 265
Brendan Murphy Holden Commodore TL 256
Brock Cooley Ford Falcon TL 252
James McLaughlin Holden Commodore TL 174
Andrew Anderson Holden Commodore TL 114

NZV8 Touring Cars Schedule
November 1-2 Hampton Downs (completed)
November 29-30 Pukekohe Park Raceway (completed)
January 17-18 Ruapuna Raceway
January 24-25 Teretonga Park
February 14-15 Manfeild Park
April (tba) Pukekohe Park Raceway

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