Record crowd enjoyed big day of racing at Highlands

Australian Klark Quinn won his first Australian GT Championship, the brand-new Toyota Finance 86 Championship produced two different race winners and Shane Van Gisbergen and Dwayne Carter took out the final three-hour South Island Endurance Race in front of nearly 11,000 people at Highlands Motorsport Park on the second day of the circuit’s first motor racing event.

The record crowd, which topped the 10,000 spectators who attended opening celebrations for the Cromwell, Otago circuit during its opening celebrations in March this year, enjoyed the second day of the three-day Highlands 101 event. Hundreds more fans kept up with the action via the circuit’s popular social media channels.

Headline act, the exotic Australian GT Championship field are making their first appearance in New Zealand and delivered brilliant racing.

Highlands’ general manager Mike Sentch is full of praise for competitors and fans for helping make Highlands’ opening weekend of racing such a success.

“Congratulations to Highlands’ owner Tony Quinn and V8 Supercars star Fabian Coulthard for taking victory in the final race of the 2013 Australian GT Championship,” says Sentch. “Congratulations also to Klark Quinn for winning his first Australian GT Championship after finishing second in today’s 40-minute race with the help of another star Kiwi Craig Baird.”

Starting the race in the Darrell Lea Aston Martin, Coulthard made short work of Friday’s Australian GT race winner and pole-man Rod Salmon in the early corners; eventually opening up a 30 second lead before handing over to Quinn. Kiwi star Craig Baird had taken over from Klark Quinn in the VIP Petfoods Porsche at the stops and closed to within six seconds of the win by the flag. Salmon and co-driver Liam Talbot eventually finished third in their Audi; enough to put the duo on the second step of the weekend podium behind Quinn/Coulthard and ahead of Quinn/Baird.

The first two races of the brand-new Toyota Finance 86 Championship delivered two different winners. Experienced touring car racer and NZV8 champ Angus Fogg, from Auckland, took a strong win in the new one-make series from Christchurch’s Tom Alexander. Fogg then drew the marble to decide the number of cars in the reverse grid for race two – it was number eight leaving ‘Foggy’ to start more than halfway down the grid. Wellington’s Jamie McNee took the second race win from Wanganui’s Matt Gibson.

Fogg said: “These young chargers are not holding back. The cars are so evenly matched that if you make even the smallest mistake you are instantly on the defensive. Miss a gear and two cars will be past you. It’s great racing.”

Another favourite Kiwi racer Shane Van Gisbergen co-piloted the Carters Falcon with Aucklander Dwayne Carter to win the final three-hour race of the South Island Endurance Series. Auckland’s Andrew Bagnall and Anthony Pederson took second with Napier’s Simon Ellingham and Nelson’s John McIntyre, both in Porsche GT3s, completed the podium.

Coulthard now has the official lap record with a time of one minute, 34.575 seconds after Baird having set the circuit’s own original track record of one minute, 41.9 seconds during the official opening celebrations in March this year.

Sunday’s action sees the fastest 42 cars on track to contest the inaugural Highlands 101 race. A Le Mans-style start is followed by 101 laps of the 4.1 kilometre Highlands circuit and compulsory pit stops, driver changes and refuelling as competitors try and win a magnificent claymore sword trophy. The field is expected to include all Australian GT cars and a diverse array of the 1-Hour and 3-Hour South Island Endurance Series cars.

Tickets for the inaugural Highlands 101 event are available from TicketDirect or at the gate. Children aged 10 and under are free when accompanied by a paying adult.

More information is available on the website, www.highlands.co.nz, where fans can sign up for free e-newsletters and find links to the event timetable, Facebook page and more.