Rick Armstrong, William Exton, and Marco Giltrap took out honours for their respective classes for the second round of the GT New Zealand Championship at Hampton Downs over the weekend, but it wasn’t with drama.
Two 30-minute races and a one-hour feature lit up the International Circuit in the Northern Waikato across Saturday and Sunday, with Giltrap beginning his weekend strongly, qualifying on pole.
Once the first 30-minute race went green, the Mercedes-AMG GT2s of Paul Pedersen and Joel Giddy slipped past Giltrap’s Porsche 992 to hit the front, with Armstrong slotting into fourth.
Pedersen led through the early exchanges, briefly dropping to second behind Giddy on Lap 8 but reclaiming the spot just corners later.
Giltrap kept the pressure on the leaders and was rewarded for his persistence on Lap 13, taking second off Giddy, with Pedersen 1.1 seconds up the road. The 2023 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia champion ate into the advantage but ran out of time to genuinely challenge for the win, Pedersen taking honours ahead of Giltrap and Giddy.
In GT4, Exton started strongly in the McLaren Artura, leading from the Toyota Supra GT4 EVOs of Kaleb Ngatoa and Mark Mallard.
There was drama further back in the field, coming when Australian up-and-comer Zoe Woods and Tony Quinn came together in their Porsche Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. Woods was forced to pit to repair a puncture, while Quinn could not continue.
Exton was the first home, followed by Ngatoa and Mallard.
The second 30-minute race followed on Sunday morning, and it was chaotic from Lap 1, a three-car incident between GT4 contenders bringing out the Safety Car and seeing Allan Sargeant, sharing a Toyota Supra GT4 with Ngatoa, forced from the race.
Sargeant, Exton and Ayrton Hodson, who partnered Mark Mallard, all came together at high speed, the latter ending in the gravel trap, which deployed the Safety Car.
Sargeant and Exton limped back to the pits, the former retiring and the latter’s team making repairs and sending him back out to circulate to gather valuable championship points.
On resumption, Giddy, Pedersen, Giltrap and Armstrong battled it out at the front, but the action was short-lived for a second Safety Car to be called following contact between the Porsche 992 of Sam Fillmore and the IRC GT of James Parker. Parker resumed after his own power, making for a very brief intervention.
There was more chaos on the restart, with several drivers gaining positions and others falling back from the leading pack. Youngster Tom Bewley found himself in third position in an older generation Porsche 991, battling against Giltrap in the newer 992 machine.
Giltrap kept the pressure on Pedersen through the closing stages while Giddy led, but that came unstuck in the final minutes, with Giddy spun out by Pedersen, who had been working hard to keep Giltrap at bay.
That allowed Giltrap through for the win, with Fillmore, Pedersen and Armstrong following across the line.
In GT4, following the early incident, Woods found herself leading, followed by the Mercedes-AMG GT4 of James Sax. Hodson, meanwhile, was recovering strongly from his early off and returned to the lead of the class from the rear of the field. The 2025 Super2 drive took class honours ahead of Sax and Woods.
However, several post-race penalties shook up the order dramatically.
Parker was disqualified from the results for code of conduct, and Fillmore was excluded from the results for causing an accident and not serving a drive-through penalty, though his in-car radio was not working at the time.
Pedersen also copped a 30-second penalty for causing an accident, while Sargeant received a two-spot grid penalty for the next race for causing an accident.
With penalties applied, the finishing order in Open Class was Giltrap first, Armstrong second, Paul Southam third, Paul Kelly fourth, Sam Cotterill fifth, and Giddy sixth. Pedersen was eventually placed ninth.
A rhythm returned for the one-hour feature, with a tidy affair won by Armstrong from the Porsche of Luke Manson and Giltrap.
Armstrong led the race early and was pursued by Giltrap, Giddy, and Pedersen. Giltrap took the lead once Armstrong came in for his compulsory stop.
Giltrap re-joined in sixth once stopping himself, as Armstrong returned to the front, holding the position until the chequered flag ahead of Manson. Giltrap worked his way to third to complete the podium.
In GT4, Exton’s car had been repaired fully following his Race 1 incident, as had the Toyota Supra GT4 of Sargeant and Ngatoa.
Exton went on to win from Sargeant and Ngatoa, with the Supra GT4 of Hodson and Mallard third.
Open Class honours for the weekend went to Armstrong from Pedersen and Giddy.
GT4 victory went to Exton, ahead of Hodson and Mallard, with Sax third.
Marco Giltrap took out honours in Junior Pro, while Allan Sargeant took out GT4 Masters for the round.
The GT New Zealand Championship heads to the South Island for the first of two back-to-back race weekends, the first at Teretonga, on January 31-February 2.
Header Image: Neville Bailey
