Tight battle for Open Class honours in Summerset GT New Zealand Championship

It’s tight at the top of the Summerset GT New Zealand Open Class with just 41.5 points covering the top three.

Luke Manson currently leads the class on 873.5 points from Rick Armstrong on 860, with Sam Filmore just a further 28 points behind in third. All three drivers in Porsche 992 machines.

Add to that, and still within points contention, but a long shot is the Porsche of Paul Southam, and the AMG GT2 of Joel Giddy who are in fourth and fifth respectively.

Championship leader Luke Manson clinched three straight wins at Highlands, including pole position, and thus took the championship lead from Armstrong.

A total of 292.5 are still up for grabs across qualifying and the weekend’s three races at Hampton Downs, and anything can happen. 30 points are available for qualifying on pole, with 75 points for a race win. Fifty percent extra points are available for the one-hour feature race on Saturday.

The rest of the field will consist of another Mercedes AMG GT2 of Paul Pedersen, followed by a host of Porsche machinery.

Rick Armstrong currently sits in second place.

Former GT4 runner Glenn Cotterill will step out of his Mercedes AMG and into a 992 Porsche Cup Car.

Regan Scoullar returns after a crash took him out of the running early on at Highlands last month, he will race in a slightly older 997.2 GT3 Cup Car. Tony Austin will race again in his Porsche 997.

Clay Osborne returns to the championship having missed the two South Island rounds, but will be looking to repeat his form that saw him win a race at Manfeild.

Porsche Championship front runner Dan Angus makes his debut in the class aboard a 997.2 Cup Car.

Also look for 16-year old Sebastian Manson, son of Championship leader Luke, who will step into the 991.2 Cup Car his father raced last season.

Also making a return, after missing a few rounds, is previous race winner, Rob Steele, who will line up in a Porsche 991.2 Cup Car.

The championship will see two 30-minute races and a single 1-hour feature race held over the weekend this weekend at Highlands, with racing from both days to be broadcast live on Sky Sport.