South Island Endurance Series underway at Teretonga on Saturday

The three-round South Island Endurance Series gets underway this Saturday at the Teretonga Park Raceway in Invercargill. Competition will be high in both the One Hour races while a smaller than usual Three Hour field in the afternoon could see a new champion emerge.

The Series has a new overall sponsor, Race Products from Auckland. From Teretonga the series moves to Christchurch and the Euromarque Motorsport Park on Saturday 28 September with the final round taking place once again at the Timaru International Raceway, Timaru, three weeks later on Saturday 19 October 2024.

**Chris Wall (Honda Civic) won the 2023 Class 5 title – photo by Euan Cameron**

The first of two One Hour races will see Classes 4 (2001cc-3500cc) and 5 (0-2000cc) competing for both Class and overall honours.

Warren Black (Audi RS3 LMS TCR) and Pel Arnott (Hyundai I30N TCR) are likely to be the most competitive of the very quick seven TCR cars in the field that should fight for overall honours. Current NZ Formula Ford champion, Blake Knowles, will be behind the wheel of a Hyundai i30N TCR while Mike Hall (VW Golf TCR) makes a return, as does Dennis Chapman (Audi RS3 TCR) and Dale Chapman (Audi RS3 TCR), with John MacKay (Seat Cupra TCR) joining the fray.

In Class 5, 2023 title holder Chris Wall (Honda Civic) will continue his rivalry with Donovan Isted (Honda Civic), Rhys Turner (Honda Civic).

In the Class 2 & 3 One Hour race, we may see Jordan Michels (Marc II Mustang) renew his rivalry with Adam Julian (Audi R8 GT3) in both Class (GT Type) and overall honours. Michels was first home at Teretonga 12 months ago ahead of Julian. Throw into the mix Steve Brooks/Bill Riding (Porsche 992 GT3 Cup), Hugh Gardiner (Porsche 991.2 MR), Rhys Gould (IRC GT) who has moved up from winning the 2023 Class 4&5 title and Paul Kelly in a brand-new Porsche 992 Cup Car.

***Start of the 2023 Three Hour race at Teretonga Park – photo by Euan Cameron***

In Class 3 (>3501cc), Steve Scoles (Ginetta G56) will be up against Joel Giddy (Mercedes AMG GT4), James Paterson (Audi R8), David Rogers (McLaren 570S GT4) and Angus McFarlane/Michael Bushell (Porsche 996 RSR V8).

A sign of the times sees a smaller Three Hour field taking to the grid. Overall honours is likely to come from the two GT3 (Class 1) cars entered. Glen Brazier/Andrew Waite (Lamborghini GT3 Evo) will compete for both Class 1 (GT3) and overall honours with Steve Brooks/Bill Riding (Audi R8 GT3 Evo).