GT4 Title to be Decided at Hampton Downs in GT New Zealand Championship

A new GT4 Class Champion will be crowned this weekend at the fifth and final round of the Summerset GT New Zealand Championship at Hampton Downs.

McLaren driver Brock Gilchrist holds a 138 point lead over the Mercedes AMG of James Sax.

“I will be going into the round no different to any other round. The main focus will be to keep the car clean and gather as many points as possible,” said Gilchrist.

Gilchrist had a difficult weekend at the previous round held at Highlands, a broken windscreen costing him valuable points.

“Highlands Sunday was definitely unexpected for us. I felt the team managed it the best they could. The car will be ready to boogey this weekend so we will go into this weekend with some good pace!”

For Sax, with plenty of points up for grabs across qualifying and the three races, he will let the weekend play out.

“I’m super excited for the round as always. There are still 292.5 points up for grabs, and as we saw at Highlands with Brock, anything can happen. We will turn up and give it the AMG the Jandal and what will be will be,” said Sax.

30 points are available for qualifying on pole, with 75 points for a race win. Fifty percent extra points are available for the one-hour feature race on Saturday.

A number of other GT4 machines will line up for the final hit out of the season.

The Ginetta G55 of Allan Sargeant returns having clinched wins at Ruapuna and Highlands last month.

The BMW M4 GT4 of Garth Piesse is back for the final encounter, but also watch for circuit owner Tony Quinn in a Porsche Cayman which he will share with Kynan Yu, the duo stringing together some good results in the previous rounds.

Sam Cotterill will be looking for more podiums following good results at Highlands.

But also look for a potential spoiler for the two contenders at the front of the field. Last season’s GT4 champion, Jono McFarlane returning for the final round in a Mercedes AMG GT4.

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.