Wellington Drivers All Set To Go

Entering their second season in the NZ Mini Challenge, Wellington drivers Brent Melhop and Marty Hunt are all set for the first round of their tier one series opener held next weekend at Taupo Motorsport Park.

The two owner drivers of the Moneyworks-TypeFace Mini Cooper S will be sharing driving duties over the seven round summer season and will be looking for some competitive adventure from their second outing in the hard fought series.

Graphic design company owner Marty Hunt will kick off the series next weekend at Taupo, a circuit where he has yet to compete at although he did put in some valuable laps earlier in the week.

"I managed to get in five 20 minute sessions on a recent test day which really helped. I started off not knowing much about the layout but at the end of the day managed to shave over three seconds off my laps and achieve a midfield time had it been a qual session." said Hunt.

Over the break Marty Hunt took a third place in his class at the Winter Series held at Manfeild Autocourse in Feilding.

He competed in the series to get some extra time in the car before the start of the summer season.

"Doing the winter season was really helpful and I was racing against different types of cars instead of just minis like I would do in the Mini Challenge. That meant that I could not only get practice around the circuit but was able to work on setting up to pass other cars which I hope I will be able to use this year." he said.

Marty Hunt will be taking charge of the Moneyworks-TypeFace Mini Cooper S for three rounds of the season including this weekend's opener at Taupo, next month's meeting at Pukekohe and Manfeild in February where he hopes to have his strongest showing after the time spent there over winter.

Mild mannered Wellington accountant Brent Melhop will be on fire when he jumps into the driver's seat once more hoping to improve on a successful duo of rounds last season.

Melhop was a rookie driver last year along with Hunt and achieved some very promising race results at Christchurch and Invercargill, his two chosen events.

At Powerbuilt Raceway Ruapuna last year in his first outing in the car Melhop managed a fifth place in the last race of the meeting, an accomplishment that surprised himself and had veteran drivers asking him to give them a chance and slow down a bit (such is the comraderie in the series).

In his second showing later on the season at Teretonga Park, Invercargill he suffered two race retirements due to car damage but was showing much promise early on with top three times in the practice sessions.

This season Melhop will contest Ruapuna once again and then take a brave dive into the hot water and compete at the brand new technical Hampton Downs circuit for the season finale in March.

At this stage the two drivers will not be competing at the South Island rounds of Timaru and Invercargill both held in January due to conflicts with the holiday season and their family plans.