First round of ASKO Endurance Series this weekend

When you combine manufacturers such as Ferrari, Porsche, and BMW with the words endurance racing you immediately think of prestigious races such as Le Mans & Nurburgring, but local spectators get to see this plus more as the ASKO Appliances Endurance Series holds its opening round at Powerbuilt Raceway this Saturday, September 4th.

As well as these famous endurance racing marques you get the best from Australia, America & Japan and in fact it’s the only series in the world where you see a genuine Australian V8 Supercar go head to head with the Porsche GT3. Add in the ‘American iron’ powered V8 cars, plus the best from Japan with high horse powered turbo Jappa’s and with ‘homebuilt’ Kiwi ingenuity taking on factory built racecars and there will be some fantastic battles on the track.

Fans are in for a real treat as one of Ferraris latest racing machines, the F430 Challenge, hits the Powerbuilt Raceway looking for Allied Lubricants GT Class and overall ASKO series honors. But it will have to beat the 2009 ASKO series champion & current New Zealand Endurance Championship (Altherm 1000) winning BA Falcon V8 Supercar. Add in the very high spec factory Porsche GT3 RSR, the ultra reliable GT3 cup cars and a Kiwi fettled twin turbo GT3 and this class will be one hell of a battle.

The Allied Lubricants 3501cc+ Class 1 will see a great V8 vs. Turbo battle with GM represented by the V8 powered Corvette & Commodore, whilst the 427ci powered GT Radials Ute waves the Ford flag. Add in the twin turbo powered Japanese cars plus the class cross breed V8 powered RX7 and picking a class winner here will be impossible.

The Hagley Building Products 2001-3500cc Class 2 is likely to be the most hotly contested with the turbo 4 cylinder Toyota & Subaru cars taking on a gaggle of BMW’s in all various forms and a lone Porsche Boxster. The BMW’s include the ultra quick ex-World Touring Car (now with a larger 3.2 litre engine to replace last years 2 litre) and a host of BMW from legendary M3’s through to the European Super Touring cars. This class will also see an entry from a Supercharged Mini Challenge car, and as well as class honors, cars will also be vying for the Matt Heagney Memorial Trophy for 1st 4 cylinder car home.

The 1600cc-2000cc & 0-1600cc Classes 3 & 4 will be combined under the Hagley Building products banner and again sees the Japan & European brands go head to head. The class will be dominated by the Japanese V-tec Honda Integra’s including an ex-European Touring car whiles the Europeans are represented by the factory built Renault Megane Cup car and the ultra reliable series ‘baby’ Peugeot 106.

The top 12 teams from the 2009 ASKO Series are all returning for another crack at the title and in the 2009 series, the top 5 cars overall were only separated by 7 championship points after the three rounds. Another interesting factor is that those 5 cars came from 3 different classes, so 2010 is sure to be another hard fought series, where reliability is the key to success.

Fans will also be treated to a separate 1 hour race at the Powerbuilt Ruapuna meeting especially for club type cars with again a great variety of machinery on the track. Entries have been received from a variety of cars from Porsche through to NZ’s oldest competing race driver John Cottier in his 1300cc Toyota Starlet. The 1 hour series is also divided into 4 separate cc based classes with naturally aspirated cars taking on the turbo and rotary powered machinery. The entries for this race include turbo cars from the Mazda, Nissan, Toyota and Subaru brands, rotary powered RX3 & RX7’s, another Mini challenge car some BMW’s and possibly a couple of Suzuki Swift Cup cars.

The Powerbuilt Ruapuna race will be the first round of the ASKO Appliances One Hour Race Series and as a bit of fun the race also has a compulsory pit stop element where a driver change needs to be made or the driver must exit car the run around it and get back in. This means the one hour race can be completed by either a single driver or two driver combination. The club is still accepting entries into both the 3hr & 1hr Races.

The final piece of this full on Endurance Motorsport day is a 1 hour motorcycle endurance race, with entries ranging from the latest Production Superbikes, through to Supersport 600’s and everything in between. In true Endurance racing fashion the race will feature a ‘Le Mans start’ which was used in many Auto races in the mid 1960’s where the riders themselves must run from the opposite side of the track to their bikes as the initial part of the race.

After the Powerbuilt Ruapuna round the ASKO Series heads to Invercargill's Teretonga Park on September 18th before the Grand Finale at Levels Raceway on October 2nd.

Anyone interested in becoming involved in Endurance Racing is welcome to contact the series secretary, Chris Dunn, via e-mail at sierdc@xtra.co.nz or phone 021-107-9293. or you can add the Club on Facebook by searching SouthIsland Endurance Series.

Photo: shows 2009 ASKO Series runners-up Scott O'Donnell/Andy Neale (Porsche GT3 RSR) leading 2009 ASKO Series Champions Dwayne & Matt Carter (BA Falcon Supercar): Euan Cameron