New Taupo winners means One, Two and Three Hour title showdowns for Hampton Downs

Andrew Fawcett and Daniel Gaunt held on to win a great race at the Taupo Motorsport Park over the weekend, and now lead the Golden Homes Endurance Championship Three Hour standings with their McLaren 720S with one round to go.

Two second places in their debut season in the new current specification Mercedes Benz AMG GT3 see father and son combo Paul and Ant Pedersen second overall and they will be heading to Hampton Downs looking for a debut victory in the car, a spectacular addition to the Golden Homes North Island Endurance Championship this season.

Another car new to this season’s championship, the Penny Homes Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 of John Penny and Ronan Murphy/Greg Murphy sits third overall with a fifth and sixth place finish to their credit and they too will be hoping to take the top step of the podium at the final round.

It will be all to play for in both the One and Two Hour categories at Hampton Downs as well following a weekend where each race produced different winners to the first round at Pukekohe.

Steve Brooks and Bill Riding improved from their fourth place finish at Pukekohe to take victory at Taupo and they now sit at the head of the One Hour points table. Consistency is definitely the key in the One Hour class with Marco Schelp sitting second in the points and leading Class 1 after a third and a second place in the first two rounds while Marco Giltrap and Simon Evans lead Class 3 and are third overall in the One Hour standings.

Round 1 winner Sam Collins could only take 14th at Taupo and is fourth in the title chase, though all are in with a shout of title honours at Hampton Downs over the weekend of 17-18 June.

There was a popular win for Steff Chambers and Cameron McCormack in a hotly-contested and very diverse Two Hour field in Saturday’s Two Hour race. David Whitburn and Graham Ball finished fourth in their BMW E92 and combined with their win in Round One, they now head the points heading into the final weekend.