Collins and Ross clean up One Hour race at Teretonga

Sam Collins and Nick Ross of Cambridge (Ford Mustang – main picture) took first blood at the opening round of the South Island 1 Hour Endurance Series at Teretonga Park, Invercargill on Saturday.

The duo led virtually all the way in their Ford Mustang, only losing the lead briefly when they pitted at the 37-minute mark of the race.

The Mustang started from pole position with the Porsche 991 GT3 of Russell McKenzie alongside and the similar Porsche of Ben and Garry Derrick and the McLaren GT4 of David McAlpine and Kynan Yu on the second row.

A cracked front brake rotor was found on the Mustang thirty minutes before the start of the race and new rotors were fitted but the team had no time to bed them in.

Despite that Nick Ross led away at the start and built up a good lead until his pitstop just after the halfway point of the race. McKenzie had initially been second but the Derrick Porsche, Bruce Davidson of Alexandra in a Corvette, Danny Whiting of Christchurch (Porsche 991 II GT3), Dunedin’s Martin Dippie (991 GT3 Cup car) and Murray and Karl Beeby of Timaru in a Nissan R32 GTR took up the chase with local driver Jordan Michels running well in his Honda Civic TCR Fk7 behind them.

The frontrunners stayed out as the pit stops began while Debbie Chapman of Tai Tapu had a quick spin in her Audi RS3 LMS TCR.

The Derrick Porsche stopped at 35 minutes followed by the Mustang soon after. That left Whiting in the lead from Dippie, Davidson and Collins who was now at the wheel of the Mustang.

Whiting was the next to come in just as the safety car appeared after Robert Gjaja of Queenstown went off in his Lotus Exige. That prompted several others to pit and when racing went green again Collins was back in the lead ahead of Derrick, Dippie, Whiting and Davidson. Dippie got past Derrick soon after and minutes later Whiting went off at the Elbow, stopping in an awkward position on the side of the track, eventually getting under way again in seventh place.

Class D winner – #991 Martin Dippie, Photo: Terry Marshall

The Collins/Ross Mustang crossed the line as the hour ticked over having covered 56 laps with Dippie second, twenty-nine seconds behind. The Ben & Garry Derrick Porsche was third just 1.5 seconds behind Dippie with Davidson, McKenzie and Michels rounding out the top six.

Team Manager for the Collins/Ross entry, Paul Collins, said the Mustang, “Had a slight electrical gremlin in the accelerator but they were able to drive around it and they aimed for consistency with laps mainly in the 1 minute, 1 minute 1 second bracket with a best of 59.497.

As well as overall honours, drivers were competing across four different classes. Along with their race victory, Collins and Ross won Class C (>3501cc) from Bruce Davidson with current Class title holders Murray Beebt/Karl Beeby (Nissan R32 GTR) retiring from the race.

Martin Dippie took out Class D (GT) from Ben Derrick/Garry Derrick (Porsche 991 GT3) and Russell McKenzie (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup).

***Class B winner – #23 Jordan Michels, Photo: Terry Marshall***

Local favourite Jordan Michels (Honda Civic TCR FK7) won Class B (2001-3500cc) from Debbie Chapman (Audi RS3 LMS TCR).

With the largest number of competitors competing in Class A (0-2000cc) it was a Honda Civic podium with Andrew Kitching/Andrw Bartlett (Honda Civic) taking round honours from Andrew Gibson/Paul Booth (Honda Civic) and Bradley Rule (Honda Civic).

Drivers and teams take a break before heading to Christchurch for the second round at the Mike Pero Motorsport Park 3 October, followed by the third and final round two weeks later at the Timaru International Raceway 17 October.

Class A Winner – #76 Andrew Kitching/Andrew Bartlett

One-Hour Race Result

Pos, #, Driver 1, Driver 2, Class, Car

1/ 999 Sam Collins Nick Ross C Ford Mustang
2/ 991 Martin Dippie C Porsche 991 GT3 Cup
3/ 148 Ben Derrick Garry Derrick D Porsche 991 GT3
4/ 35 Bruce Davidson C Chev Corvette C6R
5/ 67 Russell McKenzie D Porsche 991 GT3 Cup
6/ 23 Jordan Michels B Honda Civic TCR FK7
7/ 8 Danny Whiting D Porsche 991 II GT3
8/ 15 David McAlpine Kynan Yu D McLaren GT4
9/ 58 Steve Scoles C Ginetta G55 GT4
10/ 25 John Wadsworth C Cheve Cruze
11/ 76 Andrew Kitching Andrew Bartlett A Honda Civic
12/ 91 Andrew Gibson Paul Booth A Honda Civic
13/ 83 John Buchanan D Porsche GT4
14/ 10 Bradley Rule A Honda Civic
15/ 119 Tim Dossett A Honda Civic
16/ 14 Paul Martin A Honda S2000
17/ 60 Art Markus A Toyota Starlet KP60
18/ 199 Marcus Barnett A Honda Integra
19/ 75 Vaughan Moloney A Honda S2000 Spoon
20/ 181 Marc Denton A BMW E30 320i
21/ 223 Debbie Chapman B Audi RS3 LMS TCR
22/ 11 Justin Ashwell A Suzuki Swift Sport
DNF/ 85 Scott Milne B BMW Mini Cooper S
24/ 45 Mal Walters B Mazda RX7
DNF/ 65 Grant Askew Cole Askew B Seat Supacopa Leon
26/ 17 Robert Gjaja B Lotus Exige
DNF/ 20 Jarrod Parmenter B Mazda RX8
DNF/ 22 Dennis Chapman B Audi RS3 LMS TCR
DNF/ 56 Daniel Cropp A Honda Civic SIR
DNF/ 64 Clark Scott Jim Boult A Honda Integra Type R
DNF/ 99 William Taylor A Honda Integra Type R
DNF/ 115 Mark Meadows A Lotus Exige
DNF/ 121 Jarred Morgan A Honda Civic Type R
DNF/ 144 Craig Elstob B VW Golf GTI
DNF/ 486 Ben Silcock Andre Simon B Toyota 86
DNF/ 711 Murray Beeby Karl Beeby C Nissan R32 GTR