GT New Zealand Championship battle resumes at Cromwell

Heading into the second event of the South Island double header, round four of the Summerset GT New Zealand Championship gets underway this weekend at Highlands Motorsport Park at Cromwell.

Following racing at Ruapuna last weekend, Rick Armstrong took the round win in the Open Class, and assumed the Championship lead from Sam Filmore. While Brock Gilchrist won the round in GT4, and extended his championship lead.

With three races this weekend, and a further three races at Hampton Downs next month, there is still plenty to play for.

Open Class points leader Armstrong now sits on 659 points, with Filmore in second on 622.5 and Luke Manson third on 584. In GT4, Gilchrist leads on 809.5 points from James Sax in second on 649 and Garth Piesse in third on 612.5.

A nineteen car field is set for Highlands Motorsport Park this weekend, with a number of entrants returning to the Championship for the southern round.

In Open Class, the duo of Francois Beziac and Mana Melmazac return in their Manthey Racing Porsche 911, under the Chancellor FHK Racing banner. As well as the Porsche Cayman GT4 of John Buchanan.

Elsewhere in the field, look for the two Mercedes AMG GT2 cars in the hands of Paul Pedersen, and Joel Giddy, which have demonstrated impressive track speed in the last couple of rounds, and are regular podium contenders.

Add to that, there are four Porsche 992’s, from Rick Armstrong, Luke Manson, Sam Filmore and Paul Southam.

Wellington teenager, Regan Scoullar returns in his Porsche 991.2, and will be knocking on the door of podium finishes. Also look for Raana Horan in another 991.2 and Tony Austin in his Porsche 997. Porsche NZ Championship regular Robert Dong will also line-up this weekend in his Porsche 991.1 Cup Car having missed last weekend at Ruapuna due to Covid.

The Open Class will also see veteran racer Brian Green in his unrestricted McLaren 570S GT4 machine.

In the GT4 class, as well as Championship leader Gilchrist in the McLaren, there is a pairing of Mercedes AMG GT4 cars, in the hands of Sam Cotterill, with James Sax in another entry.

The Ginetta G55 of Allan Sargeant returns having clinched two wins at Ruapuna last weekend. Cromwell local Steve Scoles will line up in his Ginetta G56, having grabbed a couple of podiums at Ruapuna.

The BMW M4 GT4 of Garth Piesse also lines up, but also watch for circuit owner Tony Quinn in a Porsche Cayman which he will share with Kynan Yu, the duo finishing third overall at Ruapuna last weekend.

The championship will see two 30-minute races and a single 1-hour feature race held over the weekend this weekend at Highlands, with racing from both days to be broadcast live on Sky Sport.