Joel Giddy drove his Mercedes AMG GT2 to victory in the opening one-hour race of the 2024 North Island Endurance Series at Hampton Downs. Hunter Robb (Porsche 991 GT3) and Paul Southam (Porsche 992 GT3) completed the podium.
Rhys Gould, who had been running third in his new IRC GT Mustang, came together with Jacob van het Wout’s McLaren 570S GT4 at Turn 1 while putting him a lap down, which triggered a Safety car with 12 minutes remaining.
While under caution, leader Sebastian Manson, who had controlled proceedings for most of the race, having earlier qualified on the pole, was involved in an incident with Brian Green and the Safety Car. The bizarre incident resulted in the race finishing under yellow.
Brent Forman (McLaren 570S GT4) was the Class 3 winner, heading home Saxton and Fraser’s 2016 Porsche Cayman and David Cranna’s McLaren 570S GT4.
Pel Arnott (Hyundai i30N TCR) won Class 4 from Grant Baguley (BMW M3) and Brett Celliers (Subaru Impreza WRX).
Chris Wall (Honda Civic) triumphed over Tania Jones (BMW 318ti) in Class 5.
Gould led proceedings from the start, getting the jump on Manson (Porsche 992 GT3) into Turn 1, with Giddy slotting into third, ahead of Southam.
The first Safety Car was required on Lap 2 when Daniel Stutterd (IRC GT) and Shaun Varney came together. The IRC GT was left stuck in the wet outfield with damage to his left rear but slowly inched out to return to the pit lane, while Varney took significant damage to his front left. Both did not return to proceedings.
Gould retained the lead off the restart but faced intense pressure from Manson, who in turn was challenged by Giddy and Southam, with the latter sneaking through for third.
Giddy retook the position the following circuit through the sweeper, but the battle allowed Gould and Manson to put a slight gap on the pair.
The Porsche hit the lead on Lap 7 and put the hammer down, quickly building an advantage of over two seconds that would fluctuate as lapped traffic came into play and Gould returned to the rear of Giddy.
Elsewhere, Robb, who had qualified fifth but dropped down the order over the opening circuits, had returned to his starting position.
Steve Brooks (Porsche 992 GT3) had also worked forward and was seventh by Lap 9, but a spin dropped him down the order.
When the pit window opened 20 minutes in, Manson, Gould and Giddy had pulled clear to an advantage of over six seconds on the rest of the field, with Southam in fourth, under increasing pressure from Robb.
John Goodacre, John Midgley (2012 Ford Falcon), Glenn Cotterill (Porsche 992 GT3), Nick Ross (2014 Nissan Altima) and Kane Lawson (Porsche 992 GT3) completed the top ten 20 minutes in.
Gould was the first from the lead group to come in on Lap 18, and the decision looked to have paid dividends when Ross was left spun on the grass shortly after contact from a lapped car. A flurry of stops followed in anticipation of a Safety Car, but Ross was able to slowly return to the track under his own power.
Manson elected to run long, with the pit window open for 20 minutes, while his front-running rivals came in, with Giddy jumping Gould for second from pit lane. Robb also got ahead of Southam following the stops.
The leader, who set several fastest laps in clear air, finally came in on Lap 33, right before the window closed, and he retained his position ahead of a fast-approaching Giddy, who was less than one second behind once Manson was back up to speed.
Gould dropped over six seconds behind the front two but held an advantage of six seconds over Robb, with Southam close behind. Once the window closed, Goodacre, Midgley, Brooks, Cotterill, and Lawson completed the top 10.
The hammer went down again at the front, and Manson took control of proceedings, extending his advantage lap by lap.
Those gains were eliminated with 12 minutes to run when Gould and van het Wout came together at Turn 1, which elevated Robb into the podium places.
Once under caution, Green, Manson, and the Safety Car came together in an incident that left the Porsche and the McLaren stranded on the side of the track with major damage, and debris scattering the circuit.
The incident elevated Giddy to the front, ahead of Robb and Southam, and the race finished under Safety Car conditions.
Goodacre finished fourth overall, ahead of Brooks, Midgley, Cotterill, Lawson, Arnott, and Brent Forman (McLaren 570S GT4).
