It was a weekend to remember for Marco Giltrap, Rick Armstrong, and William Exton in the first round of the Summerset GT New Zealand Championship in Taupo, with the trio taking the early advantage in their respective classes.
Seventeen cars representing five manufacturers fronted for the opening round, held at the NextGen New Zealand Championship opener, with Armstrong taking the early advantage on Saturday morning by qualifying his Porsche 992 on pole.
Rookie William Exton began his rookie campaign in a McLaren Artura in the GT4 class in fine form, qualifying as the fastest in his class.
Giltrap would go on to win the one-hour race that evening, topping the all-new Junior GT Pro class. The Junior Pro class is designed for young drivers wanting to enter the series, albeit running their Porsche cars in a different specification – No traction control and no ABS braking, whereas the Open cars have those driver aids.
Armstrong was the first Open Class car home in second overall, Hunter Robb was second in Junior Pro, while the Open Class podium was rounded out by Sam Filmore and Joel Giddy.
In GT4, rookie William Exton won in his McLaren, followed by the Toyota Supra of Allan Sargeant, with James Sax in a Mercedes AMG in third.
Armstrong held the lead off the start, while Giltrap was overtaken for second by the fast-starting Mercedes-AMG GT2 of Joel Giddy. Paul Pedersen, also in a Mercedes-AMG GT2, was also a quick mover, passing Giltrap for third early.
By Lap 4, the persistent Giddy and eased his Mercedes past Armstrong and into the lead at the end of the back straight.
From there, for the next 10 laps, the race settled into a rhythm until the leaders came in for their mandatory stops on Lap 14.
Armstrong’s pit stop was a fraction slow, and allowed Marco Giltrap to leap frog him in the running order. In GT4, Exton had maintained his position at the front and came in around the same point.
As Giddy’s tyres began to wear, Armstrong returned to the lead of the Open Class, while slot into the lead for open class, while Giltrap was a further six seconds up the road seemingly in his own race.As the laps counted down, Sam Fillmore also got by the AMG of Giddy and into P2 for the Open Class race.
When the chequered flag dropped at the completion of one hour, it was Giltrap across the line first to win Junior Pro, Armstrong was next across the line to take the GT Open win, with Exton winning the GT4 Class.
Two 30-minute races followed on Sunday, and they didn’t disappoint.
There was drama aplenty in the opener, which saw Steve Brooks (Porsche 992 GT3) and Shaun Varney (Porsche 991.2) retire on Lap 1 following contact. Paul Southam (Porsche 992) was also forced out following a seperate incident, while Danny Stutterd (IRC GT) retired with a technical issue later in the race.
Up front, Giltrap crossed the line first to take the win in Junior Pro, while Giddy won in Open Class, followed by the Porsche’s of Armstrong and Fillmore.
Further back, Exton took his second win in the McLaren, while the Toyota Supra GT4 of Allan Sargeant and the Mercedes AMG GT4 of James Sax battled all race to lock out the last two spots on the podium respectively.
A thrilling Race 3 came down to the wire and wasn’t decided until the very last corner, where the Porsche’s of Rick Armstrong, Sam Fillmore, and Marco Giltrap were battling it out.
Through the last corner, Fillmore- in second place- made contact with the rear of his International Motorsport teammate Armstrong, sending him into a spin and leaving him stationary on the side of the track.
This allowed Giltrap to sneak throughand take the flag first, albeit it in a different class.
Fillmore was still the first across the line in the Open Class, although copped a 30-second penalty post-race for his contact with Armstrong. However, with closest contender Giddy crossing the line 31 seconds behind, Fillmore retained the win.
Luke Manson (Porsche GT3) was third home in the Open Class, but received a 10-second post-race penalty for contact with Pedersen, which relegated him to seventh and boosted Armstron back the podium despite his final corner spin.
In GT4, it was Exton took his third win of the weekend to sweep the round, while Sax was second, and Sargeant third.
With three races of 15 down, in Open Class, Armstrong leads on 239.5 points, Fillmore second on 235.5, with Joel Giddy on 232.
In GT4, Exton leads with 262.5, Sargeant second on 227.5 with Sax third on 217.
In Junior Pro, Marco Giltrap leads with 262.5 from Hunter Robb on 234.5.
The Summerset GT New Zealand Championship now has a break over the Christmas and New Year period before Round 2 gets underway at Hampton Downs on January 17-19.
