David Cranna will take on a new challenge when he lines up on the grid for the inaugural Rodin Cars Super GT Series in his McLaren 570 GT4.
The Super GT series will be his first run in competitive track racing, making the step up from being a Hampton Downs GT member; heading out on track with a variety of other GT4 cars.
“I’ve had a couple of McLaren road cars before and after some discussion with Luke Neuberger from McLaren Auckland, I elected to get the GT4 car to run on the track instead of a road car,” Cranna said.
“Though it’s not as powerful as the road car, it enables you to run with slick tyres, and then with that, the trick is to establish how brave you can be with the tyre.
“It will be my first foray into proper circuit racing, no expectations, just aiming to finish each race and not to damage the car.”
The 2017 McLaren 570 GT4 Cranna will race, arrived in New Zealand in March, after competing in the European Pure McLaren series, where fellow competitor Brent Formans car also competed, before arriving in the country. Both cars received updates from the McLaren factory in Woking, United Kingdom.
Cranna’s McLaren will be run by the Prime Speed Sports organisation, alongside a number of other GT4 entries.
“Obviously with Lockdowns, we haven’t been able to get out to Hampton Downs to run the car for over three months now. But the plan is to get out there in mid-December and do some further driver training with Mike Eady and Jason Liefting to sharpen up the skills ahead of round one at Highlands.”
While Cranna is familiar with Hampton Downs, the two South Island tracks that are first up on the series calendar will be new to him.
“I’ve never driven at Highlands nor Ruapuna. I’ve been scouring YouTube to find some onboard footage to try and familiarise myself before I get down there. Looking forward to it, Highlands looks like an amazing circuit.”
The Rodin Cars Super GT Series will see drivers competing at four rounds over three months starting January 15 at Highlands Motorsport Park.