A wealth of talent and machinery will be at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell this Saturday as teams fight it out for the overall and Class titles at the 2020 Three Hour New Zealand Endurance Championship. Over thirty entries will take to the grid after qualifying in either the recently held Golden Homes North Island or the Carter’s Tyres South Island Endurance Series’.
Heading the pack and the team to beat are current NZ champions Neil Foster and Jonny Reid (Audi R8 GT3). The combination has proven to be tough to beat but look like they will face their fiercest competition yet. Spare-heading the attack will be Alex Reberas/Darren Kelly (Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3) who convincingly won the South Island overall title and came close to also winning the North Island Series’. It was the McLaren 650s GT of Glenn Smith and John DeVeth that won the North Island Series, now giving them confidence to beat both the Aston crew and the pack of Audi entries.
Four Audi R8 will be on track with Red Bull Junior Driver Liam Lawson pairing with Southland’s Scott O’Donnell, Andrew Fawcett and Sam Fillmore, who finished second in the North Island Series and Christina Orr-West/Brendon Leitch who finished second overall in the South Island Series.
Lawson, home after competing in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, makes his first GT3 appearance and will be very quick on a circuit he loves and has won races at in the Toyota Racing Series.
Dwayne Carter teams up with V8 Supercars champion Greg Murphy (Mercedes GT3) and will be hunting for a podium along with the Chev Camaro GT3 of John McIntyre/Simon Gilbertson. Both are quick enough to take their chances for an overall win. The Chev Camaro has proved its speed in the three South Island rounds but reliability let them down on each occasion.
Five Class titles are also up for grabs with the overall top contenders also fighting for Class E (GT3). Anthony Leighs and Paul Kelly (Porsche Cup) are back to defend their Class D (GT Type) title from last season. They were also successful in the South Island series winning their class.
Class C (>3501cc) is hard to pick an overall favourite with seven strong entries. Scott and Craig McDermid recently won their class in the South Island series but will be up against the likes of Lance Hughes/Simon Evans (Holden Commodore), Grant Silvester/Dean Perkins (Ford Falcon), Matt Dovey/Jono Lester (Audi RS5) and Darryl Barrett/Hamish Frew (V8 Supertourer Falcon).
It’s a TCR battle in Class B (2001-3500cc) with ex WRC driver Hayden Paddon joining with NZ One-Hour Class B Endurance champion Jordan Michels (Hyundai i30N TCR). The combination proved very quick recently at Timaru but were let down by fuel pump issues. Also, in contention are two more Hyundai TCRs’ with Gene Rollinson pairing with Craig Innes and Jayden Ransley with Rhys Gould. Don’t discount Rowan Shepherd/Lochlainn Fitzgerald-Symes (Audi TCR RS3 LMS) who won the Class B South Island title and will look to break the Hyundai dominance.
Noel Simons//David Berry (Honda Integra VTi) recently won the Class A (0-2000cc) South Island title and will be up against Darryl Phillips/Terence Phillips (Honda Civic) and Oliver Heycoop/Brock Cooley (Toyota Corolla).
Qualifying takes place Saturday morning with 180 minutes of racing to get underway at 1:00 pm. Live TV action will broadcast from Sky Sport 5 from 10:30am.
NZ Endurance Championship – Three Hour Entries
#, Driver 1/Driver 2/Driver 3, Car
1, Neil Foster/Jonny Reid, Audi R8 FIA GT3
4, Oliver Heycoop/Brock Cooley, Toyota Corolla
5, Gene Rollinson/Craig Innes, Hyundai i30N TCR
5, Rhys Gould/Jayden Ransley, Hyundai i30N TCR
10, Andrew Fawcett/Sam Fillmore, Audi R8
18, Simon Gilbertson/John McIntyre, Chevrolet Camaro GT3
19, Dwayne Carter/Greg Murphy, Mercedes Gt GT3
21, Patrick Heagney/Ryan Heagney, Toyota Sprinter GTV
24, Rob Williams/Phil Blythe, Porsche 997 GT 3 Cup car
25, James Kirkpatrick/Simon Sceats, Porsche 997 Cup Car
26, Rowan Shepherd/Lochlainn Fitzgerald-Symes, Audi TCR RS3 LMS
28, Anthony Leighs/Paul Kelly, Porsche Cup
33, Hayden Paddon/Jordan Michels, Hyundai 30N TCR
37, Scott McDermid/Craig McDermid, Toyota 86 Enduro
47, Cameron Davies/Flyn Mitchell, Mazda RX8
52, Alex Reberas/Darren Kelly, Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3
65, Grant Askew/Cole Askew, Seat Supacup
66, Michael Driver/Phillip Hood, VW Golf GTI TCR
70, Mark Taylor/Vaughan Moloney, Honda Integra
71, Noel Simons//David Berry, Honda Integra VTi
79, Barry Moore/Tim Mackersy, Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
80, Matt Dovey/Jono Lester, Audi RS5
81, Darryl Barrett/Hamish Frew, V8 Supertourer Falcon
84, Lance Hughes/Simon Evans, Holden Commodore
87, Scott O’Donnell/Liam Lawson, Audi R8 LMS
90, Glenn Smith/John DeVeth, McLaren 650S GT
94, Tim Stanton/Adam Leyton/Tremain PUGSTANG Cub Colt
96, Darryl Phillips/Terence Phillips, Honda Civic
111, Shane Helms/Stephen Harrison, Aston Martin Vantage GT8R
118, Grant Silvester/Dean Perkins, Ford Falcon
141, Christina Orr/Brendon Leitch, Audi R8 LMS Ultra
275, Ron Mackersy/Warren Good, Volkswagen Golf CUP
991, Martin Dippie/Allan Dippie, Porsche GT3 Cup car – 991.1
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