It was a tough introduction to the BNT Touring Cars Championship at Pukekohe Park Raceway, south of Auckland, for Invercargill driver Jamie Conroy at the weekend.
In his championship debut several mechanical problems conspired to rob Conroy of any meaningful running early in the weekend. In a new car on a track he had never raced on before Conroy experienced fuel pump problems in Friday’s only practice session before a brake master cylinder issue meant he also lost the entire qualifying session. The end result was that on his first ever visit to race at Pukekohe he did not complete a single lap on Friday and went into Saturday’s first race with the job of learning the circuit under race conditions. However that opportunity was also hampered by a broken gear lever early in the race, leaving Conroy struggling with the car.
The tide finally turned for Conroy in his Allied 24/7 Fuel Falcon in Sunday’s races. Starting from the back row of the grid in both races he got some good mileage and brought the car up the order on both occasions to card two good finishes with a sixth and a fourth, but more importantly finally giving him some time behind the wheel to get to grips with both car and circuit.
Conroy was realistic in his assessment of the weekend. “After not getting a single lap in on Friday it was never ideal to have to learn the circuit in a race. Then of course the gear lever broke early on. We were never going to be taking wins after Friday. After a day like that you are always two steps behind. However we did get good mileage today and made our way forward. We had understeer in the car in the second race but we made progress today. Now we will bring the car home and change a few things to be ready for Round 2.” That round will take place at Taupo over the weekend of 10/11 December.
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