Glenn Smith has confirmed his intention to defend his Golden Homes North Island Endurance Championship three-hour title this year.
Smith will be teamed with long-term co-driver John de Veth in his McLaren 650s GT3 for the 2021 season.
The two have been teammates in GTRNZ, each driving their monstrous Crawford Daytona prototypes.
They then began mulling around the endurance scene, first in De Veth’s Holden SuperTourer and later behind the wheel of the McLaren 650s.
“We have been great mates for a few years and me, John, and all the crew get on really well and have a great time and that’s what’s it is all about,” Smith said.
This year will be the third season Smith has raced the McLaren, with the car having won every three-hour title it has contested since 2019.
“The car has been great for the last two seasons and driving it just feels so good,” he added.
De Veth missed the opening round of the three-hour at Hampton Downs as he continued to recover from knee surgery.
In his place was three-time Porsche Carrera Cup champion Chris van der Drift.
Smith and van der Drift would go on to win the three-hour race by an emphatic two laps.
Re-uniting with De Veth for the final round at Pukekohe, Smith pounced on a drama for the Heart of Racing Aston Martin GT3 to snare his second victory of the year and sealed the overall crown.
With this year’s North Island Endurance Championship expected to field one of the most diverse grids of top-class GT3 machinery, Smith is excited to take the fight to the big boys in his search for a three-peat.
“John and I are classed as a Am-Am peering, so will be looking at being one of the quickest of those teams and taking it to the Elite-Am teams.”
There has been no word by Smith nor De Veth about whether they will attack the one-hour championship, as well as the three-hour.
De Veth won the one-hour title last year, steering a second SBT Motorsport McLaren 650s GT3.
The first round of the 2021 season is at Pukekohe Park on May 8-9.