Timaru’s Johnny Small and Chris Small (Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) have opened their account in the four round Carter’s Tyres South Island Endurance Series by winning the first race at Teretonga Park in Invercargill. The Porsche marque filled the first four spots with second place going to Scott McDonnell/Allan Dippie (Porsche GT3 Cup S), third to Danny Whiting (Porsche 991 Gen II GT3 Cup) and fourth to Jarrod Owens (Porsche GT3 Cup S).
The opening round of the Carter’s Tyres South Island Endurance Series One Hour race had its fair-share of drama even before the race started. In Friday practice, last season’s title holder Chris Henderson heavily crashed his V8 powered Toyota Corolla AE86 ruling him out of Saturday’s racing.
The Small/Small Porsche set the fastest time in qualifying and took the early race lead. The pairing never dropped lower than second during the 60 minutes of racing although Owens appeared as though he would take the race win after leading from approximately half way.
In the last quarter of the race, Owens, who was the fastest on track, spun while trying to avoid a slower car. This dropped him down to fourth where he was to finish, giving the lead back to the Small/Small Porsche.
As well as overall race honours, competitors also competed in different classes. Class A (0-2000cc) was won by Daniel Cropp (Honda Civic SIR), Class B (2001-3500cc) went to Jordan Michels who was debuting his new Honda Civic Type R TCR. Class C (3501cc+) went to Murray Beeby/Karl Beeby (Nissan R32 GTR) who also finished fifth overall and Class D (GT3) went to overall winner’s Johnny Small/Chris Small (Porsche 997 GT3 Cup).
Drivers’ and teams now have a fortnight to prepare for the second round which will take place at the Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell, 5 October 2019
Race Results
Position, Driver/s, Class, Car
1 Johnny Small/Chris Small D Porsche 997 GT3 Cup
2 Allan Dippie/Scott O’Donnell D Porsche GT3 Cup S
3 Danny Whiting D Porsche 991 Gen II GT3 Cup
4 Jarrod Owens D Porsche GT3 Cup S
5 Murray Beeby/Karl Beeby C Nissan R32 GTR
6 Bruce Davidson C Chev Corvette C6R
7 Jordan Michels B Honda Civic Type R TCR
8 Jonas Paterson D Porsche 991 GT3 Cup
9 Chris Nicholas D Porsche 997
10 John Wadsworth D Cheve Cruze
11 Steve Scoles D Ginetta G55
12 David McAlpine/Kynan Yu D McLaren GT4
13 Daniel Cropp A Honda Civic SIR
14 Braden Phillips C Ford Falcon TL
15 Dennis Chapman/Debbie Chapman B Audi TCR LMS RS3
16 Mark Meadows A Lotus Exige
17 Tim Dossett A Honda Civic
18 Andrew Kitching A Honda Civic
19 Marcus Barnett/Brad Rule A Honda Type R
20 Ben Silcock/Andre Simon C Toyota 86
21 Scott Milne B BMW Mini Cooper S
22 Boyd Wilson C Ford Falcon
23 Andrew Wright A Toyota 86
24 Mal Walters B Mazda RX7
25 Geoff Clear/Max Clear B Honda Civic EP3
26 Andrew Gibson/Paul Booth A Honda Civic
27 Robert Gjaja B Lotus Exige
DNF Connor Sutherland/Peter Sutherland A Honda Civic
DNF Grant Aitken D Porsche Cayman GT4
DNF Art Markus A Toyota Starlet KP60
DNF Angus McFarlane/Michael Bushell D Porsche
DNF Clark Scott/Jim Boult A Honda Integra Type R
DNF Stuart Black/Arron Black A BMW E46WTC
Comments