Former Champion Returns to GT New Zealand

After a year away from the GT New Zealand Championship, Auckland’s Marco Giltrap is returning to regain his crown. The 2022-23 series winner is back with Porsche, but this time in the new 992 GT3, the same spec he drives in Porsche Carrera Cup Australia.

Giltrap, racing in the final round of the 2024 Australian Carrera Cup in Adelaide this weekend, credits his title-winning season in GTNZ for being the springboard for his highly successful Michelin Sprint Challenge campaign in 2023. The 20-year-old won four races on his way to claiming the crown. He says, “There is a high level of professionalism and experience in the Kiwi series and some hard-racing talent. Many of the top drivers have, or, in some cases, still, race against the best on both sides of the Tasman, so it is the perfect build-up…as 2023 showed.”

After a season of racing the latest evolution of Porsche’s iconic GT3, Giltrap admits, “I’m still getting to know the 992. The best way to describe it is that the 992 has a completely different temperament to the 991, especially on the limit; I’m still learning… but what a great classroom to be in.”

The learning curve will be less steep at Taupo, where the Team Porsche New Zealand driver campaigned the 992 in April when Carera Cup Australia staged is first round on this side of the Tasman. Giltrap recorded two top 10 finishes in front of the home crowd

The model number isn’t the only numerical change changes for Giltrap this season. His black and white Porsche car will carry a new number: 66, a reference to the year (1966) that Giltrap Group was founded by Marco’s grandfather, Sir Colin Giltrap. This number holds a special significance as it symbolises the team’s legacy and the incredible history of the Giltrap group on racetracks in New Zealand and worldwide.

Giltrap will lead a two-car team in GTNZ this season, sharing Garage 66 with Junior Scholarship winner William Exton. The Marlborough racer is contesting the GT4 class in the new McLaren Artura and looking to emulate Brock Gilchrist’s success in winning his class in the inaugural season of the innovative scholarship programme.

After two busy years of racing in both hemispheres, Giltrap returns with knowledge, experience, and success. Along with Carrera Cup campaigns in Asia and Europe, he also won the 2023 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Championship alongside fellow Kiwi Chris van der Drift, the duo winning an impressive 11 of the 12 races.

Giltrap will debut in the SP Tools Porsche GT3 at the Summerset GT New Zealand Championship opening round at Taupo Motorsport Park on 22 November.