Christchurch driver, Chris Nicholas will enter his Porsche 997 in the Rodin Cars Super GT Series when the category gets underway in January at Highlands Motorsport Park.
Nicholas will campaign the ex Paul Kelly Porsche 997, Kelly himself running a later generation 991.2 car in the series.
“Paul is a friend, and we managed to come to a deal to get hold of his old car,” says Nicholas.
“I’ve mainly been running in the South Island Endurance Series with help from James Marshall motorsport, which has been great, though this season, the results haven’t quite been what I had hoped for.”
“I’m excited for the new Super GT Series, its good to get into a series where the cars you are up against are a little more even and you can be a bit more competitive.”
“Though I enjoy the one-hour races in the South Island Endurance Series, you will only get so far up the field, until you get to a car that is just plain faster than you and more experience behind the wheel you’ll never be up the front.”
Each round of the Rodin Cars Super GT Series will feature two 30-minute races along with one 60-minute race, all with a compulsory pit stop.
To ensure parity between the different classes and cars in the series, there will be a Balance Of Performance criteria added to each of the races. The BOP will be implemented during the compulsory pit stop and the length of the pitstop will be determined using qualifying times and using lap times from practice sessions.
“There is a good mix of 997 and 991 Porsche machinery, and I’ve raced against a lot of the other drivers before. Plus, add to that all of the awesome GT4 cars, it’s going to be a great series.”
Like many of the South Island-based drivers, Nicholas has no experience at the two North Island circuits, Hampton Downs and Taupo.
“I’m more familiar with the South Island circuits, but have essentially zero experience at the two North Island tracks, but from what I’ve seen it’s a similar story for a few of the North Island guys.”
The Rodin Cars Super GT Series will consist of four rounds over three months commencing January 15, 2022, at Highlands in Cromwell.
This will be followed by the second round at the Mike Pero Motorsport Park, Rupauna in Christchurch on January 22-23, before heading to Hampton Downs on February 12-13. The final round will be in Taupo on March 26-27, 2022.
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