Over thirty entries will take to the grid for the one-hour New Zealand Endurance Championship grand finale at Highlands Motorsport Park this weekend.
The winner-takes-all race sees the best of the North and South Island championships battle it out for national supremacy.
The majority of the field is made up of a healthy contingent of Porsche GT3’s.
South Island Endurance champion Martin Dippie returns as a potential favourite for the victory, but he will have to stop the Porsche 997 Cup S of Marco Schelp. The ex-pat German claimed victory in both of the final South Island races and only lost out on the title through missing the opening round at Teretonga.
The leading North Island entry is Matt Whittaker in his current-generation 991 Cup Car. Whittaker finished second and fourth across the two NIERDC rounds but will be raring for victory when he takes to a circuit that he is very familiar with.
At the other end of the scale is the Collins Motorsport Ford Mustang. After running the final South Island round solo, Sam Collins is set to reunite with Nick Ross.
The two cruised to victory in the opening round of the championship at Teretonga and despite being placed in Class C (>3501cc), they could throw a spanner in the works for the swarm of Porsche entries.
The so-called TCR class B (2001-3501cc) will reignite the duel between Jordan Michels in the Honda Civic TCR and Debbie Chapman in the Audi RS3 LMS TCR.
Michels will once again be running double duties as he will link-up with Kiwi rally star Haydon Paddon in the Hyundai i30 TCR for the afternoon’s three-hour race.
However, he will first have to get up to speed with the new engine package in his Team Williams Honda after the previous one expired in the final South Island round at Timaru.
Class A (0-2001cc) sees Honda as the car of choice, with a mix of Civics and Integras making up the majority of the field.
Both the one- and three-hour races will be broadcast live on Sky Sport this Saturday with the one-hour race kicking off from 11 am.
One-hour entry list:
- 8, Danny Whiting, Porsche 991 Gen 2 G.T.3 Cup Car
- 9, Marco Schelp, Porsche GT3 Cup S
- 10, Brad Rule, Honda Civic
- 15, David McAlpine/Kynan Yu, McLaren 570GT4
- 17, Robert Gjaja, Lotus Exige
- 20, Jarrod Parmenter, Mazda RX8
- 22, Dennis Chapman, Audi TCR RS3 LMS
- 23, Jordan Michels, Honda Civic TCR
- 35, Bruce Davidson, Chev Corvette C6R
- 42, Steff Chambers, Porsche 996 GT3 Cup
- 43, Brayden Phillips, Ford Falcon ST
- 45, Mal Walters, Mazda RX7
- 56, Daniel Cropp, Honda Civic Sir
- 58, Steve Scoles, Ginetta G55 GT4
- 64, Clark Scott/Jim Boult, Honda Integra Type R
- 67, Russell McKenzie, Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup Car
- 75, Vaughan Moloney, Honda S2000 Spoon
- 83, John Buchanan, Porsche GT4
- 91, Andrew Gibson/Paul Booth Honda Civic
- 99, William Taylor, Honda Integra Type R
- 115, Mark Meadows, Lotus Exige
- 119, Tim Dossett, Honda Civic
- 144, Craig Elstob, VW Golf Gti
- 148, Garry Derrick/Ben Derrick, Porsche 991.1
- 199, Marcus Barnett, Honda Integra
- 223, Debbie Chapman, Audi TCR RS3 LMS
- 747, Matt Whittaker, Porsche 991 Cup Car
- 777, Bob Sievwright, BMW E92 M3 GTR
- 777, Sam Collins/Nick Ross, Ford Mustang
- 811, Roger Nees,Ford Falcon V8 Ute
- 911, Scott O’Donnell/Allan Dippie Porsche GT3 Cup S
- 991, Martin Dippie, Porsche GT3 Cup car – 991.1
- 997, Chris Nicholas, Porsche 997
Main Image: Euan Cameron