Joel Giddy is the North Island Endurance Series 1-Hour champion following a come-from-behind victory in Round 3 on the Hampton Downs International Circuit.
An impressive debut in a Porsche 991.2 GT3 saw Toyota 86 Champion Tom Bewley lead home fellow NIERDC and Porsche debutant William Exton for second.
Bewley and Exton exchanged places several times in the final 15 minutes in a battle for third, but both inherited a position when Rhys Gould’s IRC GT Mustang spun out of second on the final lap as an intense rain shower passed over the venue.
Seventh place for Paul Southam (Porsche 992) earned him second in the overall NIERDC 1-Hour title race, ahead of John Midgely (Ford Falcon SuperTourer) in third.
Oliver Saxton and Hamish Fraser (Porsche Cayman) were the first Class 3 cars home at Hampton Downs. David Cranna (McLaren 570S GT4) and Murray Garland (BMW M3) completed the Round 3 podium.
Cranna’s second place, combined with a third in Round 1 and fourth in Round 2, was enough for him to clinch the Class 3 title by a narrow four points from James Annabell and Richard Wagstaff (Dodge Viper).
The Class 3 advantage in the New Zealand Endurance Championship, however, is with Brent Forman, the class winner for the opening two rounds but a non-entry in Round 3 of the North Island Endurance Series.
Pel Arnott (Hyundai i30N TCR) won Round 3 in Class 4 from Grant Baguley (BMW M3) and Hacksaw Celliers (Subaru Impreza WRX).
Arnott’s victory made it three from three in Class 4 to secure to 1-Hour title in his giant-killing Hyundai i30N TCR.
Chris Wall (Honda Civic) also swept all three races in Class 5 by taking class honours at Hampton Downs, leading home Tania Jones (BMW 318ti) and James Norris (Toyota 86) to win the NIERDC class title.
As it happened
Bewley qualified on the pole for the race with a last-gasp 1:46.031 in wet conditions, pipping Gould by 0.145 seconds at the chequered flag.
Hunter Robb (Porsche 991) and Exton locked out the second row ahead of title contender Paul Southam (Porsche 992), Shaun Varney (Porsche 991.2), Kane Lawson (Porsche 992) and Giddy, respectively.
Conditions improved between qualifying and the race, but damp patches remained on the circuit, splitting the strategy between those starting on wets and those starting on slicks.
Bewley, on wets, got off to a good launch and led into Turn 1, with Exton climbing to second and Robb fourth.
Contact between Allan Sargeant (Ginetta G55) and John Midgely (Ford Falcon Supertourer) on Lap 1 left the former stranded in the dirt with suspension damage, bringing out the Safety Car.
At the end of the first lap, Bewley led Exton, Robb, Gould, and Giddy, but on a rapidly drying circuit.
Robb got a great launch off the restart to lead down the main straight and was followed by Giddy, but Bewley ran the inside line and through Turn 1 side-by-side with Robb, which saw the latter squeezed wide onto the grass.
On Lap 3, slick tyres started to come to life, and Bewley and Giddy, on wets, found themselves dropping down the order.
Varney took the lead on Lap 4, and Gould followed through to second a tour later.
By the end of Lap 6, Bewley dropped to fifth and Giddy to 13th.
In the championship battle, Southam needed to finish 10 places ahead of Giddy to claim the title, and he sat fourth as the Mercedes continued to drop down the field.
A second Safety Car, coming when the Dan and Jon Udy Toyota AE86 stopped on track, worked in favour of those on wets and bunched the field together on Lap 8.
Green flag running resumed at the 20-minute mark, and Gould, Bewley, and Giddy immediately went to the pits to change to slick tyres.
Once the pit cycle was complete, Giddy hit the front ahead of Gould, Bewley, Exton Varney, Midgely, Southam and Robb.
The gap between first and second grew to beyond two seconds entering the final 15 minutes, but it fluctuated as lapped traffic entered the equation.
Bewley and Exton, some seven seconds behind, were locked in their own battle for third and ran line-astern.
Exton passed Bewley in the 49th minute, but the Toyota 86 Champion responded just corners later to retake the position. He would defend the challenger’s advances until the chequered flag.
In the final minutes, an intense downpour moved through Hampton Downs, slowing the pace to a crawl. Gould was one of the first caught out and spun out of second at the start of the final lap.
John Goodacre (IRC GT) suffered in the conditions, spinning into a gravel trap on the final lap, while Lawson also spun on the track in the wet.
Giddy crept home for a 1.672-second victory from Bewley, whose final lap was nine seconds quicker than the winner’s.
Exton was a further six-tenths behind in third.
Varney, in his first outing in a Porsche 991 purchased from Luke Manson, was fourth overall, ahead of Midgley, Robb, Southam, Gould, Nick Ross (Nissan Altima SuperTourer) and Glenn Cotterill (Porsche 992), who completed the overall top ten.
