Armstrong Leads Championship after Summerset GT New Zealand Opener at Taupo – Exton Leads in GT4

Defending Champion, Rick Armstrong has taken the Championship lead following the opening round of the Summerset GT New Zealand Championship at Taupo over the weekend. While rookie driver, William Exton takes the points lead in the GT4 class after a dominant display in his McLaren Artura.

Three race wins for Marco Giltrap saw him taken the lead in the new Junior Pro class.

Sunday saw the field tackle two 30-minute races which followed the one hour race on Saturday. It saw Marco Giltrap win Junior Pro, Rick Armstrong win Open, and William Exton win GT4.

Sunday’s first race saw plenty of drama with Steve Brooks and Shaun Varney both retiring on lap one following contact on track in the early stages. Paul Southam retiring after contact with another car, and Danny Stutterd retiring with a technical issue later in the race.

But at the front Marco Giltrap crossed the line first to take the win in Junior Pro, while the Mercedes AMG GT2 of Joel Giddy won in Open class, followed by the Porsche’s of Armstrong and Fillmore.

Further back, young William Exton took his second win in the McLaren, while the Toyota Supra of Allan Sargeant and the Mercedes AMG of James Sax battled all race to lock out the last two spots on the podium respectively.

Race three saw a tight battle at the front of the Open Class field, with the Porsche’s of Rick Armstrong, Sam Fillmore, Marco Giltrap and the AMG GT2 of Joel Giddy all battling for line honours.

As the clock wound down, and on the last corner of the final lap, drama ensued. Through the last corner, Fillmore in second place made contact with the rear of his International Motorsport team mate Rick Armstrong, sending Armstrong into a spin and leaving him stationary on the side of the track.

This allowed Marco Giltrap to sneak through in his Porsche and take the flag first (though in a different class). Fillmore taking the flag to take the win in Open, followed by Joel Giddy and Luke Manson.

Post race, officials investigated the incident, and gave Fillmore a 30 second penalty. However, as he finished 31 seconds ahead of nearest finisher Joel Giddy, he held onto the win.

Meanwhile behind, Luke Manson was given a 10-second penalty for contact with the AMG of Paul Pedersen which saw him drop from third in open class to seventh.

With all penalties applied the final finishing order was Fillmore first, Giddy second, Armstrong third.

In GT4, it was Exton taking his third win of the weekend, James Sax second, and Allan Sargeant third.

With three races of 15 down, in Open Class, Armstrong leads on 239.5 points, Fillmore second on 235.5, with Joel Giddy on 232.

In GT4, Exton leads with 262.5, Sargeant second on 227.5 with Sax third on 217.

In Junior Pro, Marco Giltrap leads with 262.5 from Hunter Robb on 234.5.

The Summerset GT New Zealand Championship now has a break over the Xmas/New Year period before Round 2 gets underway at Hampton Downs Jan 17-19.