Ross Delivers at Pukekohe Bring On Ruapuna

For Concept Motorsport driver Nick Ross the weekend showed what he and the team can be expected to deliver over the new season of the BNT V8s.

After what proved to be the toughest first round of any previous season, Ross has finished just two points outside of the top 10 in 12th place before moving onto round two.

A new engineer, a further improved in-house engine and a return to their number one chassis culminated into a strong package at the season opener at Pukekohe Park Raceway at the weekend.

"We had a good solid weekend and are looking much better than this time last year so bring on Ruapuna!" said Ross.

The Cambridge driver came away from the opening round of the summer series very impressed by how the standards of the teams have been improved this season.

"They have all raised the ante this year that's for sure with all the qualifying times being so very close - we just missed out on being in the top 10 shootout and were actually only 0.175 of a second from 10th place." said Ross.

Ross qualified the Concept Motorsport Total Lubricants Commodore in 14th after two gruelling sessions on Saturday.

The BNT V8s have this season begun a new era with all races in the series being televised on the day by TV3 giving the teams and their sponsors a major opportunity to gain high exposure with increasing spectators becoming interested in the top level of New Zealand motorsport.

"Everybody has worked hard on getting their cars looking good and they were mostly well behaved on the circuit with no major incidents over the weekend."

"I really enjoyed the weekend with some excellent door to door racing and although there was some door rubbing the drivers kept it pretty clean." he says.

There was however something of a close call towards the end of the weekend's racing.

"In the last race I had a little bit of deja vu when on turn one Andy Knight went onto the grass on the inside of the track and I pulled back not wanting a repeat of last year." he said.

At the Pukekohe round this time last year Ross was involved in the largest pile up of race cars in the circuit's history when another driver made a similar move to Knight's at turn one but with a more serious outcome.

Improving the chances of even more top 10 finishes this season than last is the addition of a new engineer to the Concept Motorsport Team.

Mike Anderson joins the team aiming to bring improvement to the overall performance of the car over the six round season.

"It won't happen overnight but as he gets to know how I drive and we start to gel then we will start to see the results." said Ross.

At the weekend Ross qualified the Concept Motorsport Total Lubricants Commodore in 14th, and in the opening race on Saturday was able to take 13th place at the chequered flag.

Starting from 13th in race two he battled hard finding another couple of places to finish in 11th just half a second outside of the top 10.

The final race of the day was a reverse grid start with Ross once again setting off from 13th in the line up.

Once again he claimed two spots in amongst the high carnage reverse-grid race finishing in 11th place albeit with some damage sustained fighting with a back marker.

"Unfortunately one of the drivers who was a lap down came out of the pit exit and wanted to race for position. He was knocking door panels with me and another driver down the straight but that ended with him being turned around at the hairpin - something which was looked at by the officials but later deemed a racing incident." said Ross.

Ross finished the round claiming 12th place a mere two points outside of the top 10 in an incredibly encouraging start in a new season which clearly appears as though it will be the toughest BNT V8s contest to date.

Nick Ross and Concept Motorsport Team will head to the second round of the BNT V8s 2009-10 season at Powerbuilt Tools International Raceway, Ruapuna in just over two weeks.

Practice and qualification sessions for round two will be held on Saturday 29th November with the three races all taking place on Sunday the 30th.

The top 10 qualifying shoot-out and three races will be televised by TV on Sunday 29th November.