The 2024 North Island Endurance Championship wrapped up with a thrilling 3-hour race on the Hampton Downs International Circuit on Saturday, June 15, with Glenn Brazier and Andrew Waite becoming the third different winners from three rounds.
Brazier and Waite battled the elements in their Lamborghini Huracan for their victory, hitting the front after a series of Safety Car interruptions in the second hour.
With their last remaining challenger on the lead lap, the McLaren 650S of Glenn Smith, John De Veth, and Damon Leitch, serving a drive-through penalty in the final hour for avoidable contact with James Penrose’s Audi R8, Waite was able to bring the race home with a comfortable 10-second advantage over a hard-charging Leitch.
Smith, De Veth, and Leitch entered the round eight points behind championship leaders Luke Manson and Penrose, and second place in the finale, with Manson and Penrose finishing fourth, left them tied atop the points table.
Smith, De Veth, and Leitch won the 2024 North Island Endurance Championship 3-Hour title on countback based on their superior qualifying efforts.
Sam Fillmore (Audi R8), partnering with Daniel Gaunt for the round, remained an outside chance but needed to win and have other results go his way. A spin for Fillmore put paid to a dominant drive that had looked unbeatable up until that point.
A Lap 1 spin and a right rear tyre failure saw Manson on the backfoot early, but a charging drive as conditions improved brought him into contention and back into the on-track championship lead.
Fillmore’s charge ended dramatically with 70 minutes left, with the Audi sliding off into the Turn 1 gravel trap as the three other contenders stopped to switch to their Elite drivers.
Penrose assumed the lead under the Safety Car but had Leitch hard on his tail, and the rain intensified when racing resumed.
A battle between the pair came to a sudden end when Leitch punted the back of Penrose’s Audi, sending off the circuit and left stranded in a gravel trap.
This left Leitch at the front at the Safety Car, with Waite climbing to second ahead of Gaunt and a re-joining Penrose, who were in the queue but a lap down.
Waite got the better of the restarts and took the lead into Turn 1 entering the final 45 minutes, and his advantage grew when Leitch served a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact with Penrose.
From here, Waite looked comfortable, some 10 seconds in the lead, to take the checkered flag in their Braizer Scaffolding-sponsored Lamborghini GT3 Huracan.
With Leitch remaining second after his penalty, Penrose needed to pass Gaunt in the closing stages to secure the title for the team.
Gaunt successfully unlapped himself to put the Lamborghini between himself and the second Audi, which had emerged from the pit lane on its tail.
Penrose was unable to follow through and faded in the closing minutes. He was forced to settle for fourth, which dropped the team to second in the championship.
The Class 3 battle was just as dramatic, with Ayrton Hodson and Regan Scoullar (Porsche 991) and Simon Gilbertson and John McIntyre (Porsche 991) battling it for class honours.
The outfits traded places over the opening stints and remained nearby until Gilbertson was caught out on slicks in the sudden downpour mid-race, with his Porsche spinning and nosing into the wall.
They would return to the track but finished 10 laps off the Hodson and Scoullar entry, which took class honours.
Second place, combined with class victory at Taupo, was enough for Gilbertson and McIntyre to take the overall Class 2 title.
James Sax, partnering with Sam Waddell for the round in a Mercedes AMG GT4, took Class 3 race honours from Andrew Turner and Steve Bennenbrock (BMW M3). The victory and success in Round 2 in Taupo were enough for Class 3 honours for Sax.
The Honda Civic of Chris Wall, David Thomsen and Layton Hammond triumphed over the Crème Insurance Toyota 86 of Mark and Thomas Mallard in the Class 5 battle. Wall achieved the rare feat of winning his class in both the 1-Hour and 3-Hour.
Thomas and Mark Mallard claimed the overall Class 5 title.
