Kiwi Matt Halliday, in his Giltrap Motorsport Porsche, managed a credible eighth place in the latest round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at the Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium round, as one of the pre F1 Grand Prix support races at that circuit – all this in spite of being entangled again in a major six-car pile-up.

Halliday had qualified eighth, and declared the car to be ‘fantastic’ after his team had had to rebuild it after a similar major multi-car crash in Hungary.

27 cars started the eleven-lap race at Spa, and Halliday was fortunate to escape from the first-lap incident without any major damage, while three other cars were forced out as a result of the damage to their cars.

“I was really happy to get to the finish. It was a great race and we pushed very hard. It was very difficult to pass on the inside because of the damp from the rain all weekend. There was just one racing line,” said Halliday.

Sean Edwards won the race from points leader, Rene Rast and Jaap van Lagen. Rast leads the points from Nick Tandy and van Lagen, with one round to complete the championship at Monza, Italy, on September 12. Halliday lies twelfth in the championship but will not be competing at Monza as the date clashes with his V8Supercar commitment to the L&K 500 at Phillip Island, Australia.

However, young Kiwi Porsche driver, Jono Lester, will be racing in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race at Monza, having been invited by Porsche on the merit of his top results at their talent scouting scholarship in February. Lester has not been racing for about 18 months, due to a lack of finance and sponsorship. This opportunity gives him a real chance to re-establish himself being such a huge opportunity.

Dixon finishes eighth at Chicagoland IRL oval

Kiwi Scott Dixon finished eighth at the Chicagoland oval raceway, after starting from his season worst qualifying position – fifteenth. However, his Chip Ganassi Team Target team-mate, Dario Franchitti, won the race and closed the gap in the IZOD Indycar series to points-leader, Will Power, to twenty three points after being fifty nine points behind Power prior to the race. Despite his poor finish, Dixon retains third place overall in the series and with three rounds still to go – all on ovals – he still has a chance to win the series if Power and/or Franchitti have problems.

As is becoming common in Indycar racing this year, the result came down to team tactics, refueling stops and type of tyre being used when and where. Ganassi team engineer, Chris Simmons, made the call not to change the tyres on Franchitti’s car which vaulted Franchitti into the lead after the restart with 23 laps to go and he was able to hold off Dan Wheldon to take the win, his 26th Indycar victory, with Marco Andretti third ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves, Justin Wilson, Vitor Meira and Graham Rahal.

Aussie Ryan Briscoe started from pole and finished 11th. Aussie Will Power, started third, led 17 laps and by lap 190 was right behind – almost alongside – Franchitti. However, the blistering pace of 217 mph laps needed to remain in the lead pack (which had 25 lead changes and the top 13 cars within one second of each other on lap 190) was too hard on Power’s fuel consumption and he had to make a last-minute stop for fuel, dropping him to finish sixteenth.

Points: Power 528, Franchitti 505, Dixon 443, Briscoe 406, Castroneves 398, Hunter-Reay 392, Kanaan 360, Andretti 319, Wilson 316, Wheldon 309.

Next round: September 4 Kentucky Speedway

First Asko Endurance round this weekend

The first round of the South Island’s Asko Appliances Endurance series takes place at the Ruapuna circuit this Saturday, September 4, the regulations allowing the best of European, American, Japanese and Australian cars to race against each other.

Included in the field for the three-hour race, will be a F430 Ferrari Challenge in the Allied Lubricants GT class, but it will be matched against a  proven BA Falcon V8Supercar  and a high-spec factory Porsche GT3 RSR, and other GT3 Cup cars.

The top 12 teams from the 2009 ASKO series are all returning, the top five cars overall last season being separated by only seven points, after three rounds. There are separate classes for smaller engine cars.

Fans will also be treated to a separate one hour race, especially for club cars, which has encouraged a great variety of machinery. This race is also divided into four classes and there is a compulsory pit-stop. There is also a one hour endurance race for motorcycles, starting via a traditional Le Mans start.

The second round of the ASKP series will be at Teretonga on September 18 with the third round at levels Raceway (Timaru) on October 2.

SCRANZ becomes NZ Six

A recent restructuring of the Saloon Car Racing Association of New Zealand, sees the races for six cylinder Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons, along with the older Holden HQ models, being run under the banner ‘NZ Six’.

The class is aimed at encouraging entry level touring car racing, and has already experienced a surge in growth and interest with twenty to thirty cars competing at each round last season. The races will be run at IRC series meetings.

For further information, contact David Dovey on Mob: 027 443 6100 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

New Kiwi Speed Fest mooted

A group of mainly Targa enthusiasts and organisers, are planning to run a Kiwi Speed Fest which will travel through New Zealand and include three main centres – Wanaka, Wellington and Whitianga.

Along the way, the festival will stop at many of New Zealand’s popular tourism destinations, with provincial towns playing host to the entourage with its exotic cars and aircraft.

The Festival will take place over three consecutive weekends, beginning with the Warbirds over Wanaka air show, which will be broadened to include offshore powerboats and other forms of high speed boat racing, plus car events. A similar programme will be followed in Wellington and Whitianga.

The organisers have already received a warm response from John Key and it is being considered by the Ministry of Development for major Event Funding.

Should the Festival obtain the support it seeks, a public launch is planned to take place during the Rigby World Cup to capture the international media attention.

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New NIZFEST in November

Nissan New Zealand is sponsoring a new NIZFEST over the weekend of November 20-21, with events at Hampton Downs on both days and special events at the nearby Fram Autolite Dragway on the Sunday, trying to raise money for the Hospice and St John charities.

It is a weekend of automotive activities specifically for owners of Nissan and Datsun vehicles to celebrate the past/present and future motorsport heritage of these brands. Highlight, apart from all the planned shows, displays, parade laps and some track action, will be Steve Millen in his Stillen GTR and a Monster Truck World Record car crush. Anyone or anything that has a Nissan/Datsun engine etc is welcome to participate.

For the Sunday at the Dragway, any vehicles are welcome for a day of serious quarter mile action, show ‘n’ shine, burnout competitions and trade displays. These events are free for spectators with a gold coin donation on entry on both days, the proceeds from Saturday being for the Hospice and from Sunday for St John.

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