There was action galore as the motor racing season commenced at Teretonga Park in Invercargill on Saturday with Round 2 of the Carter’s Tyre Service South Island Endurance Series.

Auckland duo Jonny Reid and Sam Fillmore won the 3 Hour race in their Audi R8 Evo 2, retaking the lead with just three minutes remaining in a thrilling climax to the race.

An incident at the very first corner had forced a restart which saw the McLaren 720S of Andrew Fawcett/Daniel Gaunt lead from Hamilton pairing Chris Van Der Drift/Lance Hughes (Nissan GTR GT3). Van Der Drift took the lead after 10 minutes before pitting and handing the lead back to the Fawcett/Gaunt car. Van Der Drift regained the lead as the rest of the field took their stops and led until he stopped to hand over to Hughes. Gaunt then took over to lead from Reid, who was recovering after Fillmore had been turned around during his stint earlier in the race.

The last hour of the race was a thriller. Gaunt led until he took another pitstop allowing Reid to take the lead which he held for around 22 minutes before Gaunt repassed him in traffic. Gaunt pulled out a gap but Reid managed to catch up as the duo encountered traffic and with just three minutes remaining Gaunt went wide and Reid pounced. Reid sped on to win while Gaunt ran low on fuel and limped home to claim second with Hughes/Van Der Drift third.

Reid described the race as “stressful to the max” and said he “felt for Fawcett and Gaunt as it was such a good race.”

The stunning Brabham BT62, driven by Matt & Dwayne Carter of Auckland was prominent until it got stuck in first gear and lost oil pressure.

Earlier, the Class 4&5 1 Hour race had also provided plenty of drama.

James Penrose of Christchurch in an Audi LMS TCR led until a safety car period during which most took their pit stops. Father & son combination, Grant & Cole Askew of Rolleston, stayed out leaving them in the lead followed by Penrose, Scott O’Donnell of Invercargill (Hyundai i30N) and Warren Black of Oamaru in an Audi RS3 TCR.

At the 20-minute mark the Askew’s still led while Black had worked his way back up to third before passing Penrose as they negotiated a slower car.

Penrose then received a drive-through penalty after being adjudged to have passed under safety car dropping him to fifth. On lap 30 Black passed the Askew VW Golf GTI TCR for the lead before it pitted late in the race to drop down the order.    

With the chequered flag in sight there was another safety car period leaving a short sprint to the line over the last 4½ minutes. At the restart Black led from O’Donnell before Penrose passed O’Donnell with just 90 seconds left to grab second. Black led across the line at the finish but received a penalty for a restart infringement dropping him to third, handing an unlikely win to Penrose, after his penalty, from O’Donnell. Mike Hall of Queenstown was fourth with Brad Rule of Queenstown the first Class 5 car in sixth.

Sam Collins of Cambridge pilots his Marc Mustang to the top step of the podium in the Class 2&3 1 Hour race. Photo: Vanessa Adcock Photography

The Class 2&3 1 Hour race was far less dramatic as Sam Collins of Cambridge led from the start in his Mustang to win from Heremana Malmezac of Queenstown and fastest qualifier Ronan Murphy, both driving Porsche’s. Collins’ only drama was a close shave with Marco Schelp of Christchurch in the pitlane. Invercargill driver Jordan Michels was fifth while Nigel Cromie of Christchurch was first in Class 3 in tenth place overall.