Murphy’s Law wreaked havoc among the 60 drivers competing in round five of the GT Racing New Zealand Racing Series.
From heavy rain and driver injuries during testing, a red-flagged qualifying, to mechanical breakdowns and fires during racing, the GTRNZ series was plagued with incidents on and off the track.
GTRNZ has four classes to accommodate all speed ranges, starting with the fastest in GT1 and moving down to GT2, GT3, and GT4. The classes were split into two grids, GT1/2 and GT3/4, for qualifying and three races over the weekend.
NZIGP events hosted their season finale event on the national circuit at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, a 2.7km track with seven turns. Eleven different classes competed on the track for two days.
Race car testing took place on Friday before going to the circuit. Heavy rain and surface flooding cut the day short at approximately 3:30 p.m., but not before Zak Short suffered a broken elbow when the driveshaft of his Holden Star Car snapped and penetrated the car body.
“I believe he was taken to the hospital, he’s all okay, and had a couple of Whittaker’s Peanut Slabs to cheer him up,” said GT2 competitor Waka Nathan.
The weekend promised ideal conditions, with clear skies and a dry track. This season has seen the return of the Crawford cars to the track, which were absent during the 2023-24 season.
However, the extra months in the garage became apparent when engine failures began in qualifying.
Starter motor issues in John De Veth’s 2003 Daytona resulted in an engine rebuild. De Veth borrowed a spare McLaren car belonging to Glenn Smith to carry on the competition. Unbelievably, Smith’s T56 blew a cam seal and spilled oil around the track, resulting in qualifying being red-flagged.
“The car was actually on fire during the race,” commented GT1 race driver Cameron Jones.
“But Glenn carried on hoping to blow it out, which luckily he did, and ended up coming second across the line from the back of the grid.”
Kerry Jones completed a best time of 1:01.6 in the GT1 category.
At the end of Race 1, Jones was first across the finish, followed by GT1 points leader Smith and De Veth, who came in third. By Race 2, De Veth had turned third into first and carried the win over to Race 3.
In the GT2 category, chaos erupted when points leader Reece Hendl-Cox had a DNS after suffering engine issues in a borrowed Mitsubishi Evo, leaving Race 1 wide open for Brad Coxhead, who took the win and jumped to third in the points.
However, Hendl-Cox returned in Race 2 to take back victory, but sadly had a DNF in Race 3.
Dallas Alexander finally tasted victory in the GT3 category, stealing first position from Kruz Scott. Scott was leading the championship by a mere 16 points before his 2002 Civic had an engine failure early on in Race 1.
Scott returned to the track by Race 2, which was delayed by an hour due to a power cut at Hampton Downs. Alexander had extended his points lead by 48 ahead of Sunday’s racing, and Scott was unable to recover the placings from him.
The start of Race 3 was further delayed due to a fire in the pit lane, as Brian Grey’s 1995 RX7 caught fire while the GT1/2 race was under safety car.
The driver to beat in GT4 was Scott Mills, and rival Dion Walker did exactly that. Mills made it to pole position in qualifying, only to have the lead robbed by a red flag after a Lap 1 incident.
A single-file safety car restart was called for the GT3/4 grid, and the race ended under safety car with Walker in the lead.
The same trend emerged in Race 2, with the drivers getting in 5 laps before a safety car restart was called.
Race 3 had a cracking start; however, Mills was 21 points behind Walker and had his work cut out to take the race win. Mills took the fastest lap time in both races, while Walker took home the GT4 championship by only 13 points.
“It was bloody epic racing,” says Mills after his final battle with Walker.
“Dion drove consistently all season and proved that’s what it takes to win. Congratulations to you, mate.”
The NZIGP Events calendar for the 2025/26 racing season kicks off in September. Who will be the new GTRNZ Champion?
Words and Header Image: Chelsea Karl
