Taupo hosts first round of BNT V8s

With new naming rights’ sponsor BNT NZ Ltd on board, the BNT V8s Championship – formerly the New Zealand V8s Championship – gets underway for the 2008-09 season with the opening round being held at the Taupo Motorsport Park on the first weekend in October.

Twenty-six V8s competitors are currently entered for this opening round – the Fujitsu 200 – with fast-paced, door-to-door race action guaranteed from a talent-packed field, says Kerry Cooper, general manager of The MotorSport Company which promotes the BNT V8s series.

“Johnny Mac [John McIntyre] has been pretty dominant for the two past seasons, deservedly winning back-to-back championship titles, but he faces some stiff competition this year,” comments Cooper.

While there’s no doubting the talent and competitiveness of top-running BNT V8s competitors like Kayne Scott, Angus Fogg and Andy Booth, the addition of kiwi racing star and multiple champion Craig Baird adds a new dimension to the BNT V8s class.

Baird takes on a full-time drive in the United Video Falcon driven by former V8 champion Mark Pedersen for many seasons. ‘Bairdo’ will also contest the Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship he has won for the past three consecutive seasons meaning, at six of the seven V8 rounds, Baird will compete in both classes.

Team owner Garry Pedersen says Baird has driven the United Video Ford once before in Timaru “...so it’s great to see him in our car for the full season. Mark is expanding his TV commentating roles and, thanks to the support of Tegel and Radio Hauraki, we’ve been able to put this very competitive package together with Craig.”

McIntyre starts the season with a brand-new car, the Castrol-backed Ford his John McIntyre Racing team has been constructing and testing throughout the off-season.

“It’s exciting to have the team’s first completely new car,” says McIntyre. “Championships are won and lost on the efforts of a whole team and we’re well prepared for Taupo’s Fujitsu 200 meeting. We all have just as much of a sense of anticipation this season as we did last year. We’re out to become the first team to win three consecutive New Zealand V8s titles.”

Among the other top Ford competitors, last season’s runner-up Angus Fogg returns with his own race team, new sponsorship from LG Electronics and the support of long-time V8s competitor Kevin Williams who’s offered to help ‘Foggy’ in a management and ownership role. Williams bought one of the Fords Fogg built while working and racing for International Motorsport, and Fogg and partner Tracy Smytheman bought the engine. Expect a very determined and professional approach from the Angus Fogg Racing / LG Motorsport team.

Returning to the series full-time after taking most of last season off is Fogg’s former International Motorsport team-mate Paul Pedersen. A V8 champion in earlier seasons and always a front-runner, Pedersen ran very competitively at Taupo’s A1GP meeting last year with a fifth, sixth and a win.

Last season’s other top Ford drivers, Kayne Scott and Paul Radisich, are both back in the Fujitsu Ford and HPM Ford respectively.

“I’d rate Kayne [Scott] my strongest contender,” comments McIntyre. “The Fujitsu Ford well sorted in its second season and Kayne’s had the racing miles this year – as have Paul Radisich and Craig Baird. You can’t underestimate the value of track time actually racing.”

The trio of top Holdens prepared in the West Auckland workshop of Wayne Anderson return in the hands of two-time former champion Andy Booth, former champion Paul Manuell and Anderson’s nephew Andrew Anderson. Booth has a brand-new Holden and is again running with the support of Big Ben Pies, Manuell continues his very successful long-term association with Orix Leasing, while this will be Anderson’s ninth consecutive season in the New Zealand V8s.

Similar to last season, Fords outnumber the Holdens 16 to nine for the opening round in Taupo.

New to the Ford camp is former V8s development champion Michael Bristow who will contest his first full season in the premier V8s series with the Tex Onsite team after completing two rounds last season and scoring well-earned top ten placings. Alan McCarrison and Boyd Norwood are other development V8 drivers moving into the premier V8 series in Fords.

Other V8 rookies include Toyota Racing Series champion Andy Knight who steps into a brand-new Milwaukee-backed Ford built by the Christchurch Autotek Group who ran Australian Luke Youlden for the past three seasons. Dale Williams, a Production Racing Series class champion last year, is driving the Team SCG Racing Qwest Ford that another Australian, David Besnard, drove last year.

Also driving Fords are Simon Richards, Inky Tulloch, Tim Edgell, Adam Brook, Eddie Bell who’s taken over Clark Proctor’s Metalman Ford, and Andrew Porter.

Completing the Holden line-up are Nick Ross, Cam Hardy, Chris Adams, former Super Truck champion John Hepburn in his first full season, John Penny, and Shaun Turton.

For the Fujitsu 200 in Taupo, competitors have their official testing sessions on Friday 3 October while the three-part qualifying programme takes place late morning on Saturday 4 October. The BNT V8s have their first race – 12 laps – on Saturday afternoon with a 16-lap race in the morning of Sunday 5 October and a 20-lap race on Sunday afternoon, all with rolling starts.

A new-look BNT V8s website has recently gone live – www.nzv8s.co.nz – and features the latest news, event information and options to purchase tickets for each of the seven championship rounds.

2008-09 BNT V8s Championship calendar

Round 1 (Fujitsu 200), Taupo Motorsport Park, 3-5 October 2008

Round 2, Pukekohe Park, 7-9 November 2008

Round 3, Powerbuilt Tools International Raceway (Christchurch), 28-30 November 2008

Round 4, Timaru International Motor Raceway, 9-11 January 2009

Round 5, Teretonga Park (Invercargill), 16-18 January 2009

Round 6, Manfeild Park (Fielding), 27 February - 1 March 2009

Round 7, Hampton Downs Motorsport Park (Meremere), 20-22 March 2009

[Non-championship trophy round, Hamilton 400 V8 Supercars, 17-20 April 2009]