Smalls bid for big series win
Timaru’s Chris and Johnny Small will take a 13-point lead into the final round of the South Island One-Hour Endurance Championship at Ruapuna Raceway, Christchurch, on Saturday.
The brothers, driving a Porsche 997.2 Cup, have posted a win, a third and a second in the three rounds so far at Teretonga (Invercargill), Highlands (Cromwell) and Levels (Timaru) respectively.
On Saturday they will line up knowing that Jarrod Owens (Porsche 997 Cup S) is their closest challenger with Scott O’Donnell and Allan Dippie (Porsche 997 Cup S) a further seven points further back.
Johnny Small said their tactics will be to do what they need to to wrap up the title.
‘‘We are not going out to try and win the race, we want to wrap up the title.’’
This means they won’t be dicing with Marco Schelp (Porsche 997 Cup S) who has had the fastest car in recent rounds.
However, Schelp opted to miss the first round in favour of the three-hour championship and finds himself 81 points behind the Smalls and, at best, can only finish second.
The Smalls lead both the overall points table and the Class D (GT3 Type) and, according to Johnny Small, if Owens wins they would need to finish third to take the title, however, if Owens was second, they could finish fifth.
‘‘A lot will depend on how the race plays out.
‘‘Endurance racing is a bit of a different beast to sprint racing as after about three or four laps you are in the lapped traffic and it comes down to who can get through traffic the best.’’
Johnny Small said being in contention to win the championship was not something they had considered at the start of the season.
‘‘We thought if we went okay we might grab a podium placing.’’
Another Timaru siblings team – Murray and Karl Beeby – is in contention for Class C honours, driving their Nissan Skyline R32 GTR. They are five points behind Bruce Davidson driving a Chevrolet Corvette C6R.
Davidson needs to finish ahead of the Beebys to take class honours. However, a tie is on the cards if the Beebys are first home ahead of the Corvette.