Time penalty denies Harrison of an overall GT4 Class win at Super GT NZ finale (UPDATED)
*****UPDATE
Two days later and an unfortunate update to an earlier post of ours relating to the final round of the Super GT New Zealand from the Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park at the weekend.
Having posted on Sunday that Stephen Harrison had secured the GT4 Class title win aboard his Race Lab prepared Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT8R by virtue of finishing two places ahead of title contender Nigel Cromie and taking a GT4 class win in the final race, a five second post-race time penalty for the #78 driver effectively reversed those finishing positions making the McLaren 570s GT4 driver Cromie the declared GT4 Champion instead.
With the result on Sunday always being provisional and something of a surprise for Harrison when interviewed on the podium, the Series do not however clarify as to the reasons why this post race time penalty was served. Harrison now finishes second in the overall GT4 table as a result.
*****ORIGINAL POST
Going into the final round just twelve points behind the class leader, Stephen Harrison and his Race Lab prepared Aston Martin Vantage GT8R was the one most likely to challenge Nigel Cromie and his McLaren 570s although teammate although Shane Helms also has a slight chance with his Vantage GT8R.
A class win for Cromie in the weekends opening sprint race on Saturday was then countered by Harrison with a class win of his own in Sunday’s second sprint race leaving a ‘winner takes all’ prospect for Sunday’s one hour endurance race with now just eight points separating the drivers.
“Game on – there was a fair bit of pressure out there, looks like with the points it’s back to where we started at the start of the weekend, so it’s all on for the final race,” said Harrison.
After another thrilling multi-class race, it came to Harrison needing the racing assistance of his Race Lab teammate Allan Sergeant aboard his Ginetta to finish in between himself and Cromie for the #78 AMR driver to take P2 in class in the final race and take the GT4 Class Championship win by the slightest of margins (still yet to be confirmed by the Series).
If this Championship win is ratified by the Super GT NZ Series, it will be the second for Harrison aboard his bright yellow AMR Vantage GT8R after his class win in the New Zealand South Island Endurance Series last year.
Congratulations
Photo credits – Super GT NZ
Harrison Ready to Snare GT4 Title
Stephen Harrison is leaving no stone unturned as he challenges for the GT4 title at the fourth and final round of the Rodin Cars Super GT Series at Taupo next weekend.
The Aston Martin driver sits just 12-points behind championship leader Nigel Cromie in a McLaren, and with 75 points up for grabs for a race win, there is still plenty to play for.
Making his charge for the title, Harrison and his Race Lab team have been doing plenty to prepare for the upcoming final encounter of the season.
“The McLaren’s seem to have the legs on us as far as top speed goes. The Aston Martin is very good under brakes and I think we’re on par through the corners, so we have been experimenting with some aero stuff to try and make us a little faster in a straight line.
“Like any driver, I’m taking this pretty seriously, I’ve been training a little bit harder at the gym to make sure I’m 100% ready for Taupo.”
“We’ve had a good season so far, though at Hampton Downs we had an ABS issue which affected us during a pit-stop. We know why it happened, so we should be fine for Taupo now.”
Lining up on the grid alongside Harrison will be Race Lab teammate, Shane Helms, also in an Aston Martin GT4. Helms has also had a good season, picking up a couple of wins and podiums. Sitting in third position in the championship, 64-points behind Nigel Cromie, Helms is also a chance to take out the title if he finishes ahead of Harrison and Cromie.
“It’s great having Shane as a teammate with his car. There are no secrets in the team, we share data and information and try make us both faster. Both of us have a good shot at taking out the title, we’ll just see what plays out by the end of the race three at Taupo on Sunday".
The fourth and final round of the Rodin Cars Super GT Series is scheduled for 26/27 March at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupo.
Two AMR's looking to claim their prizes at North Island Endurance Series finale
An ‘all or nothing’ final round of the North Island Endurance Series faces the #52 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing crew of Darren Kelly and Alex Riberas next weekend if they are to lift the overall or Class crown in 2021.
Having missed out on that last year in the NIES at their first time of asking, the #52 have been determined not to let that happen again this year with a race win in round one at Pukekohe back in May, a P2 next out at Hampton Downs at the end of May before a further P2 position lats time out at the Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park in Taupo just over a week ago.
Despite those three podiums out of three for the AMR crew, they are now just being pipped by the Championship leading #22 Audi R8 of Neil Foster and Jonny Reid who have scored just that little bit better with two wins and a second to lead the #52 by just 5 points going into the final round.
With the Series also running a points system where you drop your lowest score (both cars having dropped 90 points each so far), the 2021 winner will obviously be determined by the results of next weekend and looking back to last time, the HoRT won with the #22 crew in second place. A similar result would tie them again at the top of both the Championship and GT-A Classes.
Also looking to confirm their 2021 Championship status will be the #111 AMR Australasia Vantage GT8R car of Steve Harrison and Shane Merlin who lead their GT-B class by fourteen points after a second and two class wins over the three rounds so far. They, however, have had to drop 90 points whereas the second placed car is just 14pts behind having only dropped 20pts with a DNF amongst their results!!
Despite being raced on the other side of the world, this year’s Championship has been streamed live via the Motorsport TV webpage.
Now there’s just three more hours of racing to decide who comes out on top.
Photo credits – HoRT / NIES
Misfortune of others cost Heart of Racing a win in North Island Endurance Series
After having to settle for second place behind the #22 Audi last time out at Hampton Downs, hopes were again high for today’s race as the #52 car claimed pole position, five places ahead of the #22 car going into today’s three-hour race with both cars tied for the Championship lead on 185 points each.
Also in the race again was the AMR Australasia Vantage GT8R of Steve Harrison and Shane Murland after their unopposed class B win at Hampton Downs two weeks ago.
Despite this event being Kelly’s and Riberas’ first competitive visit to the circuit, Riberas was soon off into the sunset as others held themselves up around a twisty, tyre punishing circuit but soon throttled back to conserve those tyres for the full expected hour duration of his stint. In the meantime, the Reid/Foster Audi R8 had moved up from P5 to P3.
Pitting from the lead at the seventy-minute mark, Riberas handed over to Kelly for what would be his only stint of the race again, but the #22 Audi stayed out in an attempt to gain track position.
Just before the halfway mark, a sickening looking accident for a young driver within a brand-new McLaren 570s GT4 with apparent brake issues brought out an immediate Safety Car. Losing the best part of an hour whilst the safety barrier and debris was repaired, another two-car spin on the green lap race left a two-horse race to the flag for the #52 and #22 cars but with each owing a final stop.
With forty-two minutes remaining the #22 assumed the race lead whilst the #111 car continued at the head of the non GT3 classes and would go on to take another class win.
For the #52 crew and Riberas short on minimum drive time by just one minute, their final stop came with less than three minutes remaining but unfortunately the damage had already been done with the #22 Audi having looked after its tyres more than the Aston to create a big enough gap to retain the lead and ultimately, the race win.
This result has Reid and Foster take the overall lead outright with just one round remaining!
Photo credits – HoRT / NIES
All to race for still at Rd 3 of North Island Endurance Championship
Next weekend sees the third round of four North Island Endurance Championship for the Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park in Taupo.
Back to the tradition of never seemingly able to track down an accurate entry list from the race organisers, we would believe that the #52 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage of Darren Kelly and Alex Riberas will of course be there but we are not so sure about the AMR Australasia Vantage GT8R of Steve Harrison and Shane Murland.
Both cars being podium winners after another eventful race last time out at Hampton Park, where the GT3 crew had to settle for a P2 slot and the GT8R crew took an unopposed class win again to lead their GT-B class.
Kelly and Riberas meanwhile are tied for the GT-A and overall Championship lead with the Audi crew of Neil Foster and Jonny Reid who beat them to the top step two weeks ago.
Photo credits – NIEC / HoRT / AMR Aus
