The GT New Zealand Championship will close out its season this weekend, when the GT field heads to Ruapuna at Christchurch for Round 5.
Two-time Open Class Champion and current 2025/26 season Championship leader Rick Armstrong will be looking to clinch his third title, with former GT4 Champion Nigel Cromie the main contender to challenge Armstrong – just 105.5 points separating the pair.
The pair have battled all season long, both claiming multiple wins and podiums across the four rounds so far.
After four rounds, Rick Armstrong leads on 929 points, Nigel Cromie second on 823.5, with Sam Fillmore third on 786.5 – the three drivers all in identical Porsche 992 Cup Cars.
Seven Porsche 992 GT3 Cup cars will contest round five this weekend in the hands of Rick Armstrong, Nigel Cromie, Sam Fillmore, Paul Kelly, Regan Scoullar, Steve Brooks and Tony Quinn. A sole IRC Mustang machine will also line up in the hands of local driver Grant Silvester.
In GT4, Glen Chappel leads on 974.5 (Toyota Supra GT4 EVO 2), followed by Grant Aitken (Audi R8 GT4) on 858.5, with Allan Sargeant (Toyota Supra GT4 EVO 2) third on 793.
Four GT4 machines will line up this weekend at Ruapuna, the Toyota Supra GT4 EVO 2’s driven by Chappel & Lachlan Evennett, with Allan Sargeant and William Exton in the sister Toyota machine.
Grant Aitken will again share his Audi R8 GT4 with Greg Murphy, while youngster Matt Day will return again in his Mercedes AMG GT4.
This weekend, the GT New Zealand field will have four races instead of the usual three. A 30-minute race on Friday, two 30-minute races on Saturday and a 40-minute race on Sunday.
With four more races to run this weekend at Ruapuna, both championships can be won or lost!
Header Image: Supplied
