The Start of a New Era for V8s in NZ Motorsport

The Start of a New Era for V8s in NZ Motorsport

The excitement of the NZV8 Touring Cars is sure to spill over this weekend at the Pukekohe Park Raceway.

Not only will this final round of the season generate some tough battles but history will be made when the NZV8 Touring cars race alongside V8 SuperTourer spec cars bringing the two categories together for the first time since the major split in V8 competition.

"This weekend is the start of a new era for V8s in New Zealand Motorsport. It’ll be the first time that both the NZV8 Touring cars TLX and the NZ SuperTourer cars will be on the same grid since their split 4 years ago." said NZV8 Touring Cars chairman Ian Booth.

Kevin Williams wrapped up the NZV8 Touring Cars TL Championship at Manfeild in February whereas in the TLX category it once again comes down to the last round with defending champion Nick Ross chasing current points leader Jason Bragwanna.

Ross, from Cambridge, needs to close a sizeable gap of 158 points between himself and Australia's Bargwanna if he is to retain his title whereas third placed Lance Hughes from Hamilton is expected to retain the remaining podium spot ahead of Scott Taylor also from Australia.

Bargwanna would very much like to make history by achieving the first NZV8 Touring Cars title for Toyota whereas Ross would like to do the same for Nissan.

There have been no measures taken to achieve parity between the different specification cars for this event and points will be awarded seperately.

The NZV8 Touring Cars TL Championship field will join the TLX and ST cars for races one and two then compete in a stand alone race on Sunday afternoon.

"Not only will the TLX and ST cars be lining up next to each other but the older TL cars all also line up with them both for races one and two. On Sunday the TL cars will have their own race when they will compete for the David Slater Memorial Trophy." said Ian Booth.

Behind this season's NZV8 Touring Cars TL champion Kevin Williams is Hamilton's Steve Taylor.

He currently holds second place ahead of Auckland's Brad Lathrope, Winton's Nathan Pilcher and Featherstone's Brendon Murphy who are all in reach of taking the runner up spot this weekend.

The Metalman V8 Spectacular will see 20 entries from the NZV8 Touring Cars TL and TLX and the V8ST spec cars for the weekend. The entries are fairly evenly shared across the three categories with five TLX, six V8ST and the remainder coming from the very popular NZV8 Touring Cars TL Championship.

Testing for the NZV8 Touring Cars TL classes was today and sessions for the TLX and V8ST spec cars are tomorrow morning,Saturday, at 10.20am and 11.35am.

Qualifying for the TL category is at 12.00pm and for the TLX and V8ST categories at 1.00pm.

History will be made on Saturday afternoon when all three categories line up on the grid at Pukekohe Park Raceway together for the first time ever for race one at 2.30pm duration of 15 laps.

On Sunday the three come together once again for a longer 20 lap race at 12.00pm before the NZV8 Touring Cars TL Championship go their own way for the Dave Slater Memorial Trophy 15 lap race at 3.10pm.

The grand finale of the weekend's merging of these two great V8 categories takes place with a 25 lap race at 3.40pm. The race includes a mandatory stop for all cars where the TLX cars will do a wheel change and the V8ST cars will have a timed 30 second stop.

The weekend will end a long standing separation of the two classes and herald some form of a merger which will be addressed over the off season including a resolution to the parity issue before getting underway in November 2015.

"One thing is for sure and that is the TLX drivers are all looking forward to being on the same grid as the ST cars. Yes there’s a parity difference but nonetheless the drivers are pumped about racing against them." said NZV8 Touring Cars chairman Ian Booth.

"I’m excited about the future for V8 racing here in New Zealand because there’s serious joint effort between both groups in making the merger a reality starting 6-8 November at the Australian Supercars ITM 500 at Pukekohe."

"Yes there are some parity issues to sort out but we know it’s possible and we know we have to right people on board who will sort those issues out. We want the cars to have some points of difference so it makes for good racing. This was why we like having a variety of brands such as Ford, Holden, Nissan, Toyota and possibly more to come. " he said.

This weekend at Pukekohe Park Raceway promises to be very exciting and is a major step in the right direction for providing top entertainment for the fans of V8 racing in New Zealand.

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