Tom Alexander has taken the win in race one of the GT New Zealand Championship at Ruapuna today, while William Exton has taken the class win in GT4.
Alexander found himself in the driver’s seat of Nigel Cromie’s Porsche as the usual pilot had to go to a family wedding this afternoon. Alexander benefited from Cromie having qualified the car in pole position.
Off the start, Alexander surged into the lead from Rick Armstrong and Regan Scoullar into third. In GT4, Exton led from the start, with Lachlan Evennett and Matt Day behind in third.
At the halfway point in the race, the positions stayed constant, with Alexander holding a lead of around 1.5 seconds from Armstrong, who, for a time, was the fastest man on track.
Local racer Grant Silvester had to retire from the race after his Ford Mustang looked to develop a rear brake issue. Scoullar began to hound the rear of Armstrong’s car, forcing him to run wide and slipping into second place.
A handful of laps later, Steve Brooks pulled off a similar move and elevated himself to a podium spot. With the chequered flag falling after 30 minutes of racing, it was Alexander who finished around eight seconds ahead of Scoullar, with Brooks third.
Behind in GT4, it was still the three youngsters Exton, Evennett and Day line astern as the chequered flag fell.
The GT New Zealand Championship have two more thirty-minute races, with Nigel Cromie expected to return to the driver’s seat. Cromie & Alexander are expected to at least share the driving duties in the longer race four of the weekend.
With three races still to run this weekend, the two Championships now look as follows.
In Open Class, Rick Armstrong now sits on 983, with Nigel Cromie on 898.5, Sam Fillmore on 835.5 – the title fight still on.
In GT4, Glen Chappel has 1049.25, with Grant Aitken on 912.5, Allan Sargeant third on 860 – the title fight is still on.
Header Image: Tayler Burke/Shots By TayB
