Eight of Australia’s fastest TA2 Cars have begun their journey from Brisbane to New Zealand for next month’s two-round Trans-Tasman Series in the South Island.
The Australian contingent will face off against eight Kiwi entries at the Lady Wigram Trophy meet at Ruapuna on February 9-11 before heading south to Highlands International Motorsport Park a week later.
The Highlands round sees the class supporting the New Zealand Grand Prix.
Two-time Australian Trans-Am champion Nathan Herne will make the journey to run in his Dodge Challenger. He’s joined by Mark Crutcher, Graham Cheney, Paul Hadley, Anthony Tenkate, Greg Keam, Michael Coulter and Brad Gartner.
“I am very excited to go race over in New Zealand and visit the boys across the ditch,” Herne said in a recent release shared by TA2 Racing.
“TA2 New Zealand is something that Pete (Ward) and Paul (Manuell) have been working really hard at getting off the ground and running, and to have a true Trans-Tasman racing series again is pretty cool.
“New Zealand has some pretty awesome tracks that we will be racing at. It is going to be an awesome time.”
The New Zealand contingent includes Ward, former V8 Ute champion Brett Rudd, Steve Ross, Andrew Turner, Andrew Sinclair, Maurice Shapley and John Robert.
Former Mazda Racing Series champion and Australian Toyota 86 Series Scholarship Shootout winner Ben Stewart will also front up in a Chevrolet Camaro TA2.
The series will race three times at each event, with a choice to run as a single driver or with a co-driver. The final 20-minute feature at each round brings a timed compulsory pit stop to allow for driver changes.
The two Trans-Tasman rounds are running at the SuperSprint Motorsport New Zealand Championship, which will be televised on Sky Sport.
Header Image: Neville Bailey
