“The best it’s ever been” – Collinson

“We were able to push hard every time we were on track”

Panorama Motorsport racer Glen Collinson enjoyed a winning start to his season, taking one race win and two second places in the first round of the RYCO 24•7 V8 Utes Championship at Pukekohe Park over the weekend.

Collinson sits second in the points just a whisker behind series leader Paul Manuell, and is confident of maintaining the momentum over the next three rounds of the championship.

“The car is the best it has ever been and we were able to push hard every time we were on track,” he explained. “We got the best out of the tyres and the set up. The 50 laps testing we did before the season were some of the best we have done and we were confident we’d go well, but we’re still pretty stoked as a team.

“The team have always turned out a good car and been fully focused over race weekends, but we added another engineer this season in Mike Squires and his input has pushed us just that little bit further forward, which is what you need in this category as it has always been super competitive since we started in it five years ago.”

Collinson was on the pace throughout the weekend and his drive from ninth on the grid to race victory in the second encounter of the weekend – a reverse top ten race – was one of his strongest drives in the Panorama Ford Falcon FG, the only NZ-built racing V8 ute in the field.

“It wasn’t an easy race and there was plenty of action at the start, but you get used to that in V8 Ute racing and once I had got into the leading bunch I was able to find a way through and go on to win. It’s always rewarding for the driver but the team have put in a huge effort too and it was a great result for them.”

The Link-Up Paints supported racer now takes a break for Christmas and will make further refinements to the Ford Falcon before the series rolls out for its second racing weekend at Hampton Downs in January.