Kiwis Rick Armstrong and Sam Fillmore will compete in the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Pro-Am class at the ITM Taupo Super400 this weekend.
The duo joins a 19-strong contingent that made the trip across the Tasman, with the field also including Marco Giltrap and Fabian Coulthard.
International Motorsport is preparing Fillmore’s and Armstrong’s cars, which will run at an identical spec to the remainder of the field.
Fillmore is a two-time New Zealand Endurance Championship winner and also won the factory-backed Porsche Endurance Trophy in this season’s Summerset GT New Zealand Championship. He will be recognized by Porsche Motorsport at the Night of Champions in Germany later this year.
Armstrong, the father of IndyCar driver Marcus Armstrong, was the Open Class winner of this year’s GT New Zealand Championship.
Nineteen Porsche 992 GT3 Cup Cars arrived at Taupo International Motorsport Park on Thursday in preparation for their maiden New Zealand outing. This is just the second time the series has raced outside of Australia.
Dean Cook and Dylan O’Keeffe are the only two drivers in the field who raced at Sepang in Malaysia seven years ago.
Two teams in the field are also Kiwi-owned, McElrea Racing and Earl Bamber Motorsport, while Driving Stands Officer Craig Baird is also from New Zealand.
Also included in the mix is Ryder Quinn, the grandson of circuit owner Tony Quinn.
Eleven containers, with a combined weight of 35 tonnes, were shipped to New Zealand shortly after the opening round at the Melbourne Grand Prix, which Harri Jones won from Dale Wood and Marcos Flack.
Giltrap sits tenth in the standings, having finished sixth, ninth and nineteenth in Melbourne, while Coulthard is 18th, having incurred a points deduction for his involvement in a Race 3 incident.
The Porsche Carrera Cup will take to the track on Friday for practice, with qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday and two further races on Sunday.
All the action will be broadcast live on Sky Sport in New Zealand.
Header Image: Neville Bailey
