A very quick Steve Brooks and Bill Riding (Audi R8 GT3) have won the opening Round 1 of the 2025 Three-Hour South Island Endurance Series held at the Euromarque Motorsport Park in Christchurch on Saturday.
While effectively leading from start to finish over the Three Hours, the pairing was chased down and caught by the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Kane Lawson/Hayden Knighton/Ronan Murphy with 15 minutes remaining.
Catching is one thing; passing is another, and Bill Riding defended his lead right to the chequered flag to win by 0.567 seconds.
“Absolutely fantastic,” said Brooks.
“The car is running really well. We now have the confidence to carry on with some good results for the series.”
Third home was the Audi R8 GT3 of Luke Manson and James Penrose, with Matt Day/Damon Leitch (Lamborghini Huracan GT3) fourth ahead of the Andy Childe/Tom Alexandra (Porsche 992 GT3 Cup).
Run in fine warm conditions, it turned out to be a race requiring driver and pitstop strategy, fuel saving and tyre management.
A key to Brooks and Riding’s victory was a short ‘splash and dash’ pitstop for fuel under one of several safety car periods just after the halfway mark.
“Actually, it wasn’t enough,” said Brooks.
“It was really nerve-racking the whole time; we were on the edge of our seats. I think the car has about 500mills (of fuel) left in it right now.
“We said to Bill, ‘let’s conserve fuel’, and that’s why he was going so slow. With about 20 minutes to go, we did some calculations and knew we then had enough and told Bill to put the hammer down, and he did.”
With three driver changes required for the second-placed Lamborghini Huracan GT3, it was Ronan Murphy who emerged approximately 50 seconds behind the leading Audi with approximately 70 minutes remaining.
While Riding was in a fuel-conservative mode, Murphy was able to make considerable gains each lap but was unfortunately not able to make the pass for victory.
“We didn’t quite get there,” said Murphy.
“Bill defended in all the right places and was driving really well.
Our car was so good; however, once we got there, we ran out of tyres a little bit and seemed to hit a brick wall. We probably could have managed it a bit better. We got there but just didn’t have the last bit of ‘oomph’ to make the move. They did a great job.”
Impressive on his debut in the series and driving a GT3 car was 16-year-old Matt Day, who paired up with seasoned campaigner Damon Leitch in the Dayle ITM Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
Day was in contention for a podium for much of the race, moving into second after the first hour and then inheriting the lead once the Brooks/Riding Audi stopped for fuel and tyres.
The middle of the race then saw a close tussle for podium positions between Day, Kaleb Ngatoa (Paul Kelly Porche 992 GT3 Cup), Glen Brazier/Andrew Waite (Lamborghini Huracan GT3) and Luke Manson.
Unfortunately, a collision between Day and Brazier heading into Turn 2 resulted in Brazier’s retirement, and Day dropped down the field to fifth. Leitch was able to put in some quick and competitive lap times, salvaging a fourth-place overall.
Fifth to eighth spots were all Porsche 992 GT3 Cup cars, with Childe/Alexander in fifth and first in Class 1, followed by Kelly/Ngatoa, brothers Martin and Alan Dippie, and Sam Cotterill/Max Vidau.
Duncan Cundall-Curry/Blake Knowles (BMW M1 GTR E87) were ninth overall and first in Class 4 (2001-3500cc), Chris Wall/Layton Hammond (Honda Civic Type R) were first in Class 5 (0-2000cc) and 11th overall while Barry Moore/Andrew Giles (VW Golf GTI TCR) were first in Class 3 (>35001cc) and 12th overall.
Three Hour Race Results:
| Position | Drivers | Car | Class |
| 1 | S Brooks/B Riding | Audi R8 GT3 | GT |
| 2 | K Lawson/R Murphy/H Knighton | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | GT |
| 3 | M Luke/J Penrose | Audi R8 GT3 | GT |
| 4 | M Day/D Leitch | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | GT |
| 5 | A Childe/T Alexander | Porsche 992 GT3 Cup | Class 1 |
| 6 | P Kelly/K Ngatoa | Porsche 992 GT3 Cup | Class 1 |
| 7 | M Dippie/A Dippie | Porsche 992 GT3 Cup | Class 1 |
| 8 | S Cotterill/M Vidau | Porsche 992 GT3 Cup | Class 1 |
| 9 | D Cundall-Curry/B Knowles | BMW M1 GTR E87 | Class 4 |
| 10 | G Rhodes/P Rickerby | Mustang II V8 | Class 1 |
| 11 | C Wall/D Hammond/D Thomsen | Honda Civic Type R | Class 5 |
| 12 | B Moore/A Giles | Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR | Class 3 |
| DNF | G Brazier/A Waite | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | GT |
Drivers and teams now prepare for the second round at Teretonga Park in Invercargill on Saturday, 4 October 2025.
Header Image: Richard Opie
