Clay Osborne took the Open Class win in the Summerset GT New Zealand Championship’s one-hour race at Hampton Downs, while James Sax came out on top in GT4.
Sunny conditions greeted the opening encounter of the weekend. Paul Pedersen got proceedings underway from pole position in his Mercedes-AMG GT2, with circuit owner Tony Quinn’s Porsche Cayman leading the GT4 field.
Sam Fillmore made contact with his International Motorsport teammate Rick Armstrong on Lap 5, forcing the Porsche 992 off the track. Armstrong was able to rejoin, but down the order.
The first of the field started to pit right on the 20-minute mark when the window opened, and Armstrong was one of the first to come in, followed by the Porsches of Paul Southam and Sam Filmore.
The GT4 competitors followed suit, with Championship leader Brock Gilchrist’s McLaren making its stop, followed by Garth Piesse’s BMW. Quinn handed over his Porsche Cayman to co-driver Kynan Yu.
Southam found himself leading the field once all stops were complete, while Sax emerged at the front of the GT4 field.
In the dying stages, however, Southam would come unstuck, and a Safety Car was required for the retrieval of his Porsche.
With time ticking down, a red flag was shown, and it became a sprint for the line from the restart.
Osborne was the next driver at the front, and he held on to win in the Open Class from impressive teenager Sebastian Manson and Rob Steele.
Sax kept his composure in the lead of the GT4 contingent to take the chequered flag from Allan Sargeant’s Ginetta and Cotterill’s Mercedes-AMG.
The GT New Zealand Championship returns for two 30-minute races on Sunday, which will be shown on Sky Sport.
