The sixth annual Historic GP wrapped up over the weekend at Taupo International Motorsport Park, now under the ownership of Tony Quinn, which saw James Watson dominate in the Formula Open New Zealand category.
The Promains FONZ ran its second meeting at the event with a grid of fifteen cars turning on some great racing. Guest driver Kaleb Ngatoa ran the ex-Dean Hall/Craig Baird Swift DB4 Formula Atlantic but was plagued all weekend with fuel issues which effectively ended any chance of a much anticipated contest between him and series regular James Watson. But sources tell us he will be back in the car for the Jim Palmer meeting at Pukekohe on February 24th and 25th.
James Watson was in a class of his own all weekend as he set a new FONZ and Formula Atlantic record of 1:24.629, a whole second faster than his own record from last year and two seconds faster than Ngatoa. He in turn had a three-tenth advantage over MacNeill and series new comer 17-year-old Kaden Probst.
Taupo is traditionally a Formula Atlantic Track and the ex-TRS Tatuus FT50s are no match for the Formula Atlantics on this circuit. However, their case was not helped by tyre supply issues because the new batch of Hankook Supersofts were held up in Auckland due to a bio security issue. Therefore, Sam MacNeill, who was the best of the FT50s, was basically taking a knife to a gun fight being at least a second off the car’s normal pace as were all the other FT50s and 40s.
It was great to see Tony Quinn in his Reynard Formula Atlantic, although by his own admission he was there to just drive and help with his recovery following a crash in the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup in Australia last year.
We were all thrilled to see the return of Kenny Smith in the ex-Marcus Armstrong Tatuus FT50, although an electrical problem robbed him of a qualifying time so he had to start at the back for race one.
Like TQ, Smith is still recovering from broken ribs and a shoulder operation from nearly a year ago. At 81-years-of-age, bones take a lot longer to mend. He still gave it his all over the three races and moved up the field by passing a lot of guys a quarter of his age. In the wet race on Sunday morning, Smith was up to fifth and closing in on Ngatoa who said afterwards he saw Kenny coming in his mirrors and thought, “oh no here comes the old boy”.
So what of the others? The Crabb Racing Team duo of Fergus Crabb and Joshua Andrew were close to each other all weekend while Zac Christensen dominated the Jim Palmer Cup class in his Tatuus FT40 leading home Leo Francis in the only other car in that class. Gary Rush had a mixed bag of a weekend but it appears he has finally solved the electrical issue that has plagued the car since its new engine was installed and had a great time working his way from the back of the grid, showing the advantage the Atlantic has over the FT50s on this track.
Grant Rivers and Geoff Harriman resumed their tight battle from Manfeild and ended up equal on points for the meeting. Young Ethan Sillay showed great promise in his newly acquired Reynard but a shortage of a selection of gear ratios perhaps hindered his progress for the week, but he still finished fifth in class for the weekend, just three points behind series new comer Probst.
Where too from here? Skope at Mike Pero Motorsport Park is the next round and the track is very different to Taupo meaning it should favour the FT50s. But, James Watson will still be fast so if you are in Christchurch for the weekend, be sure to get out to the track for some brilliant FONZ racing.
Main image: Steve Jones | Words: Supplied
