The Carter’s Tyres South Island Endurance Championship heads to the third round at Timaru Raceway this weekend with local drivers Chris and Johnny Small looking to take home advantage and extend their championship lead in the One Hour series.
The Timaru brothers (pictured above) competing in their Porsche 997 Gen2 Cup won the first round at Teretonga Park in Invercargill then followed this up with a third place at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell a fortnight ago.
Nine points behind and second equal overall is the Porsche 997 Cup S of Allan Dippie/Scott O’Donnell who have so far finished second and fourth. Second also is Jarrod Owens (Porsche 997 Cup S) who should have won the opening round but spun late in the race finishing fourth. A second place at Highlands has moved him up the order and will be a threat to the Small’s championship lead.
“We’ve done a lot of laps at both Timaru and Ruapuna so certainly our approach to the final two rounds will be quite different to Highlands,” commented Johnny Small.
Standout winner at Highlands, Marco Schelp (Porsche 997 Cup S), will be back for this round and will no doubt be in contention for another victory. Schelp competed unsuccessfully in the Three Hour race at the opening round retiring his BMW Z4 GT3, so elected to compete in the One Hour Series. He is 15th overall on the points table and not currently in title contention but likely to take away vital points from other contenders.
Within the overall One Hour series are four separate classes vying for category titles. Tim Dossett (Honda Civic EF) has a nine-point lead over Mark Meadows (Lotus Exige) and Andrew Kitching (Honda Civic) in Class A (0-2000cc).
Class B (2001-3500cc) title looks like a fight between two new TCR cars with the Jordan Michels Honda Civic FK7 TCR 18-points ahead of the Dennis and Debbie Chapman Audi RS3 LMS TCR entry.
Fifth overall is the Chev Corvette of Bruce Davidson who is currently first-equal in Class C (+3501cc) with the very quick Nissan Skyline R32 GTR of Murray and Karl Beeby.
The top four overall also feature as the top contenders in Class D (GT type). Thirteen of the 16 cars in the class are Porsche.
With a maximum of 75-points on offer for the round winner, this is a series where consistency pays and finishing is vital. To not finish a round will be detrimental to class honours and the overall championship. This Friday sees practice and testing for all entries with qualifying and racing in the penultimate round on Saturday.
Points after 2/4 rounds
Position, Car #, Driver/Co-driver, Car, Class, Points
Overall (top 10)
1 17 C Small/J Small Porsche 997.2 Cup D 181
2 911 A Dippie/S O’Donnell Porsche 997 Cup S D 172
3 13 Jarrod Owens Porsche 997 Cup S D 172
4 8 Danny Whiting Porsche 991.2 Cup D 165
5 35 Bruce Davidson Chev Corvette C6R C 143
6 818 Jonas Patterson Porsche 991 Cup D 134
7 15 D McAlpine/K Yu McLaren 570s GT4 D 133
8 28 Jordan Michels Honda Civic FK7 TCR B 131
9 997 Chris Nicholas Porsche 997 Cup D 129
10 711 M Beeby/K Beeby Nissan Skyline R32 GTR C 127
Class A (1-2000cc) -Top 5
1 119 Tim Dossett Honda Civic EF A 181
2 115 Mark Meadows Lotus Exige A 172
3 176 Andrew Kitching Honda Civic A 172
4 199 M Barnett/B Rule Honda Integra A 165
5 141 Andrew Wright Toyota TR86 A 152
Class B (2001-3500cc) – Top 5
1 28 Jordan Michels Honda Civic FK7 TCR B 190
2 223 D Chapman/D Chapman Audi RS3 LMS TCR B 172
3 45 Mal Walters Mazda RX7 S1 B 161
4 85 Scott Milne BMW Mini Challenge B 159
5 11 Robert Gjaja Lotus Exige turbo/Integra 2.4 B 152
Class C (3501cc+) Top 5
1 711 M Beeby/K Beeby Nissan Skyline R32 GTR C 185
2 35 Bruce Davidson Chev Corvette C6R C 185
3 486 B Silcock/A Simon Toyota TR86 C 164
4 117 Brayden Phillips Ford Falcon BA NZV8 C 106
5 302 Barry Kirk-Bunnand Ford Mustang 302S C 86
Class D (GT Cars) Top 5
1 17 C Small/J Small Porsche 997.2 Cup D 181
2 911 A Dippie/S O’Donnell Porsche 997 Cup S D 172
3 13 Jarrod Owens Porsche 997 Cup S D 172
4 8 Danny Whiting Porsche 991.2 Cup D 165
5 818 Jonas Patterson Porsche 991 Cup D 146
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