Collinson targeting big Grand Prix weekend

Hamilton’s Glen Collinson is revved up and ready for a big performance in the third round of the Ryco 24•7 V8 Utes Championship this weekend – which takes place at the New Zealand Grand Prix meeting at the Circuit Chris Amon – Manfeild.

Collinson sits second in the championship table behind current leader Paul Manuell and has two wins to his credit from the two rounds.

He sits 22 points behind Manuell and knows he could have been closer had he not stalled on the grid in the first race at Hampton Downs last month. Despite that, he’s fully in gear for his best ever performance at the Manfeild track, one of his favourites.

“Yep I absolutely love this track and I’d love to have a win or two here this weekend,” explained the Panorama MotorSport ace. “We’ve been quick everywhere this season in the Link Up Paints Ford Falcon and that’s really down to my great team and getting the set up right after a few seasons of figuring it out. These are not easy cars to drive or get the perfect set up on and I do think we’re back in the performance window we were in before the big crash at Hampton Downs in 2018.

“Manfeild suits my style and I am really enjoying racing with the guys at the front. It’s a bit frustrating that it’s the reverse format races we have done really well in as I think we definitely have the pace to win in a straight fight, but may be that will come this weekend. I’m going to be on it from the first practice lap and will be aiming to get a great starting slot on the grid for the first race. I’ll go from there for the rest of the weekend.”

A good field of Utes this weekend at the circuit will qualify on Saturday morning before having one race on Saturday afternoon based on the qualifying times. The Sunday morning race will feature a grid made up of the top ten from the Saturday result starting in reverse order. Sunday’s longer feature race has a grid defined by the points scored over the weekend.

All races can be viewed live on Sky Channel 55 over the weekend.