• Latest
  • Trending

Lester and Jones share BNT V8 race wins, Ross crashes heavily

December 6, 2020

Respect and Rivalry: Zilisch vs. Van Gisbergen on NASCAR’s road courses

July 18, 2025

Cassidy backs Lawson: “People in motorsport have short memories”

July 18, 2025

Douglas heads to Toronto for penultimate round of USF Pro 2000 season

July 18, 2025
#88: Shane Van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing, Red Bull Chevrolet

Motorsport Diary: Kiwis racing overseas this weekend

July 18, 2025

Ben Stewart impresses in debut Australian Toyota GR Cup weekend at Townsville

July 17, 2025

McElrea denied podium in rollercoaster IMSA race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

July 17, 2025

Liam Lawson beats WRC Champions in impressive rally debut at Goodwood

July 16, 2025

Bamber back on the podium as Toyota endures tough São Paulo return

July 15, 2025
#88: Shane Van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing, Red Bull Chevrolet

“Nobody Can Run With Him”: Denny Hamlin and Co. hail SVG’s road course dominance after Sonoma victory

July 15, 2025

Consistent Hedge claims third-straight P6 at Iowa Speedway

July 15, 2025

Chaos and heartbreak for Kiwis in Porsche Sprint Challenge in Townsville

July 15, 2025
Saturday, July 19, 2025
VelocityNews
Subscribe
  • International
    • Formula 1
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • Formula E
    • Esports
    • Super GT
    • Super Formula
    • TCR
    • WEC
    • GT
    • Porsche Carrera Cup
    • BTCC
    • DTM
    • IMSA
    • IndyCar
    • Road to Indy
    • NASCAR
    • WRC
    • MotoGP
    • Motorcycle Racing
    • Historic Racing
  • New Zealand
    • Toyota Formula Regional
    • Toyota GR86 Championship
    • Rally
    • Speedway
    • Drifting
    • Formula Ford
    • Formula First
    • TCR NZ
    • TransTasman V8 Series
    • V8 Utes
    • GT New Zealand Championship
    • GTRNZ
    • Central Muscle Cars
    • Pirelli Porsche
    • Mazda Racing Series
    • NZ Endurance Championship
    • NIERDC
    • SIERDC
    • Pro8 South Island Series
    • SsangYong Utes
    • Kartsport
    • NZ Historic Racing
    • NZ General
  • Australia
    • Supercars
    • Super2
    • Australian V8 Touring Car Series
    • Porsche Carrera Cup Australia
    • Porsche Sprint Challenge
    • S5000
    • Australian GT
    • TCR AU
  • Features
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Profile
    • Race Cars
  • Circuit News
  • Velocity TV
  • Performance Cars
  • Jobs
    • Jobs
    • Post a Job
    • Job Dashboard
No Result
View All Result
VelocityNews
No Result
View All Result

Lester and Jones share BNT V8 race wins, Ross crashes heavily

by Zane Shackleton
December 6, 2020
in New Zealand, News, TransTasman V8 Series
0

Jono Lester and Kerry Jones have shared the wins in the first two qualifying races in the opening round of the 2020/21 BNT V8 championship at Pukekohe Park.

Lester cruised home to a commanding race one victory in a straightforward fashion, while Jones resisted some late pressure by a hard-charging Tim Edgell in the afternoon’s second seven-lapper.

However, talk of the day was a lap one crash in race two, which had Nick Ross ride the concrete barrier that lines the outside of the turn one.

The Total Oils Nissan Altima was lifted into the air, scaling the barrier and caving in some of the wooden horse gate in the process.

The race was immediately red-flagged, and Ross’ weekend is likely over given the amount of damage sustained in the crash.

A fast start by Lester was pivotal for victory in the day’s opening qualifying race as the GT ace led home Edgell by less than one second at the chequered flag.

Lester led all seven tours of the Pukekohe circuit, setting the race’s fastest time – 1m03.720 – on his third effort.

The most intriguing on-track battle was the duel for third, eventually headed by reigning series champion Andre Heimgartner in the Hamilton Asphalts Holden Commodore.

Heimgartner will be doing double duties this weekend, teaming up with Alexandra Whitley in the final round of the NZ Toyota 86 endurance series.

Kerry Jones was the sole Transam in the field, and the sheer muscle of his Corvette C5 was enough to have him end up fourth on the road, two-seconds adrift of Heimgartner.

With their much-anticipated MARC II V8 car still in transit from Australia, Collins Motorsport brought out the popular NASCAR-powered Mustang for this weekend’s opening round.

Running as high as third and posting times within one second of Lester’s race-winning pace, a set-up drama had Sam Collins slip to over 20-seconds behind Jones in the last two laps, and he yielded a position to Robert Wallace in the process.

The silver lining for the team is that both of today’s races have a minor implication on the championship, with the focus of the weekend on Sunday’s one-hour feature race.

The second race of the day was a reverse marble draw, with Wallace leading Ross on the run into turn one.

There, Ross dipped out of view as his Altima sent a wave of gravel across the track before he collided with the barrier.

When the race was eventually resumed behind the safety car some twenty minutes later, newly-promoted race leader Jones commanded all of the remaining few laps, leaving Edgell to take revenge on Lester by beating the Audi home to claim second.

Collins seemed to have rectified the set-up gremlin that was bothering him from race one to hold on to fourth.

Wallace ended up fifth ahead of the BMW E46 of Shaun Varney.

Lance Hughes took over from Heimgartner for the second race, but he retired from damage picked up in the Ross incident.

How the results will determine the grid for tomorrow’s feature race, including Balance of Performance pit stop times, currently remains unknown.

Race One Results:

PosDriverGap
1Jono Lester–
2Tim Edgell0.184s
3Andre Heimgartner4.093s
4Kerry Jones6.535s
5Robert Wallace21.749s
6Sam Collins26.160s
7Nick Ross30.220s
8Stephen Fleming1 Lap
9Peter Begovich1 Lap

Race Two Results:

PosDriverGap
1Kerry Jones–
2Tim Edgell0.535s
3Jono Lester3.222s
4Sam Collins1.809s
5Robert Wallace 4.485s
6Shaun Varney 19.626s
7Peter Begovich 58.265s
8Simon Fleming59.982s
9Lance HughesDNF
10Nick Ross DNF

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact Us

© 2022 VelocityNews - Independent New Zealand and International Motorsport news.

No Result
View All Result
  • International
    • Formula 1
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • Formula E
    • Esports
    • Super GT
    • Super Formula
    • TCR
    • WEC
    • GT
    • Porsche Carrera Cup
    • BTCC
    • DTM
    • IMSA
    • IndyCar
    • Road to Indy
    • NASCAR
    • WRC
    • MotoGP
    • Motorcycle Racing
    • Historic Racing
  • New Zealand
    • Toyota Formula Regional
    • Toyota GR86 Championship
    • Rally
    • Speedway
    • Drifting
    • Formula Ford
    • Formula First
    • TCR NZ
    • TransTasman V8 Series
    • V8 Utes
    • GT New Zealand Championship
    • GTRNZ
    • Central Muscle Cars
    • Pirelli Porsche
    • Mazda Racing Series
    • NZ Endurance Championship
    • NIERDC
    • SIERDC
    • Pro8 South Island Series
    • SsangYong Utes
    • Kartsport
    • NZ Historic Racing
    • NZ General
  • Australia
    • Supercars
    • Super2
    • Australian V8 Touring Car Series
    • Porsche Carrera Cup Australia
    • Porsche Sprint Challenge
    • S5000
    • Australian GT
    • TCR AU
  • Features
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Profile
    • Race Cars
  • Circuit News
  • Velocity TV
  • Performance Cars
  • Jobs
    • Jobs
    • Post a Job
    • Job Dashboard

© 2022 VelocityNews - Independent New Zealand and International Motorsport news.