Warren Black fended off early challenges from Pel Arnott and Blake Knowles and went on to win the opening Class 4 & 5 1-Hour of the Racer Products South Island Endurance Series at Teretonga.
Black, driving an Audi RS3 LMS TCR, had earlier qualified on the pole ahead of Arnott (Hyundai i30n TCR) and Knowles (Hyundai i30N TCR), respectively, and powered to an early advantage.
The leading trio quickly pulled clear of the field, with the gap between the three fluctuating but remaining around one second over the opening 20 minutes.
Arnott threatened to take the lead with good exits from Turn 7 on several occasions ahead of the pit window, but Black held firm at the front with good straight-line speed.
Arnott responded by diving into the pits when the window opened 20 minutes in, taking new front tyres. Black followed one tour later while Knowles remained out and took the lead.
A Safety Car was needed 27 minutes in when Jarred Morgan (Honda Civic) came to a stop, which saw Black, who had returned from his stop with the net lead, and Arnott make ground up on Knowles, who was yet to stop.
Knowles stopped from the front at the 37-minute mark and returned to third, which saw Black return to the lead with a 6.7-second advantage over Arnott.
He would not relinquish his position over the following 20 minutes and was in front when a second Safety Car was called in the final five minutes when Arthur Broughan (Mazda RX8), a standout performer in the Mazda Racing Series, suffered a right-front failure and was left stranded.
Racing would not resume, with the Safety Car leading Black, Arnott and Knowles home, respectively.
“It was awesome, it’s beautiful weather for it, and it was good racing,” Black told The Pits Media.
“There were lots of cars out there to work through, and then we’ve got these two guys (Arnott & Knowles) pushing you all the time. It was an awesome race, and I really enjoyed it.”
A visibly tired Arnott, who runs his Hyundai TCR from the Paddon Racing Group stable, added, “That was a lot of fun. I’m pretty fit, it was just really hard work out there.
“I’d like to thank Ben and the Paddon boys, South Island Endurance, for putting on an awesome event, and the competitors. Blake and Warren are fast guys to race against.”
While Knowles ultimately lost out by running long before the first intervention, he made good ground back on the leaders in the closing stages, setting the best lap, a 59.936-second flyer, in the process.
“It was a good race,” he said after the race. “Pretty busy, but I’m happy with the result. There are a lot of cars out there, especially when you’re trying to battle in your own race, but it was good fun.
“The Car was awesome. After the stop, the tyres were hanging in there good. It was just unfortunate about the safety car; we could have hopefully gotten to the back of them.”
Mike Hall (Volkswagen Golf TCR) made for a TCR sweep of the top four positions ahead of the BMW E46 M3 of Russell McKenzie.
Dale Chapman (Audi RS3 TCR), Dennis Chapman (Audi RS3 TCR), Duncan Cundall-Curry (BMW GTR), the Toyota 86 of Grant and Ben Williams, and the Mazda RX8 of Chris White and Will Neale completed the Class 4 top ten.
The battle for Class 5 was just as tight, with Chris Wall prevailing over Donovan Isted and Jordan Rae for a Honda Civic sweep of the podium.
Isted started well and led from the Paul and David Booth BMW E36 early, with the North Island Endurance Series Class 5 champion Wall slotting into third but climbing to second in the opening ten minutes.
Wall hit the front during the pit window and held a ten-second advantage when the pit window closed, which Isted was eating into before the race-ending Safety Car brought the field together for the finish.
Rhys Turner (Honda Civic) was fourth in class, ahead of Paul and David Booth and James Mitchell (Honda Civic), who recovered well from early contact with Will Taylor (Honda Integra), which ended the latter’s race.
Peter Sutherland (Honda Civic), Zach Blincoe (Toyota 86), Ajay Giddy (Toyota 86) and the Toyota 86 pairing of Cormac Murphy and Thomas Mallard completed the Class 5 top ten.
