Ross and WIlliams Fastest at Teretonga in Friday Testing   24 Jan 2015

Defending champion Nick Ross has put in the fastest lap at Teretonga Park in today's two testing sessions going under the on minute mark with a 59.646 lap against current points leader Jason Bargwanna who also went under the minute barrier but with the slightly slower time of 59.782.

Third fastest was Simon Richards who debuts this weekend in the TLX category and is from Hamilton.

But it was Cambridge driver Ross and Australia's Bargwanna who set the track alight today with Ross leading the first session with the fastest time overall but with Bargwanna leading the second session.

Although the fastest time of the day was taken by Ross the qualification session tomorrow morning will be the determining factor of which driver will have the upper hand with pole position for the opening race tomorrow afternoon at 3.30pm.

One thing is clear however and that is we are gong to see yet another demostration of close racing between these two who seemingly cannot be separated.

Lance Hughes is currently third in the TLX points and will be all over fellow Hamilton driver Richards when racing.

Australia's Scott Taylor looked very strong last weekend at Mike Pero Motorsport Park claiming his first podium of the series in third place overall.

Auckland driver Kevin Williams currently leads the NZV8 Touring Cars TL Championship by a whopping 139 points over Queensland based Craig Baird who after winning the opening round in November has not experienced the best of luck since including missing one race last weekend.

Today Williams set the best time of the TL class at 1.03.761 against Wellington driver Jamie Gaskin's 1.04.218 and local driver Liam McDonald's 1.04.996.

Significantly these three were placed in this order on the podium at the end of last weekend's racing at Mike Pero Motorsport Park in Christchurch.

McDonald won the round here at this time last year but will be up against a great deal of on-track action and aggression with veteran drivers Williams and Baird fighting hard in the title chase.

Steve Taylor from Hamilton, Auckland's Brad Lathrope and Winton's Nathan Pilcher currently occupy positions three, four and five on the points table and also have the title well within reach and in their sights.

Invercargill driver Grant Molloy was quick here last year and Featherston's Brendon Murphy will be quickly up to pace in this his rookie season and first appearance at Teretonga Park.

The NZV8 Touring Cars action gets underway at Teretonga Park this Saturday the 24th January at 11.40am with a qualification session followed by their first race of the weekend with a 12 lap sprint starting at 3.30pm.

On Sunday the V8 powered action continues with a top five reverse grid 14 lap race at 11.24am and then the final NZV8 Touring Cars race of the weekend starts at 3.59pm and is 22 laps including a mandatory wheel change for the TLX cars.

ends

Images for editorial use only please credit Iain Whitaker

Teretonga 23rd January 2015 Teretonga
Results of NZV8 Touring Cars - Test Session 6

Pos PIC No. Name Class Best Tm Best Speed In Lap Diff Gap
1 1 1 Nick Ross TLX 59.645 158.136 10
2 2 02 Jason Bargwanna TLX 59.831 157.644 11 0.186 0.186
3 3 007 Simon Richards TLX 1:01.934 152.291 13 2.289 2.103
4 4 84 Lance Hughes TLX 1:03.045 149.607 16 3.400 1.111
5 5 22 Scott Taylor TLX 1:03.092 149.496 13 3.447 0.047
6 1 8 Kevin Williams TL 1:03.761 147.927 5 4.116 0.669
7 2 5 Jamie Gaskin TL 1:04.218 146.875 8 4.573 0.457
8 3 69 Liam MacDonald TL 1:04.996 145.117 11 5.351 0.778
9 4 55 Nathan Pilcher TL 1:05.309 144.421 12 5.664 0.313
10 5 33 Steve Taylor TL 1:05.389 144.244 8 5.744 0.080
11 6 73 Brad Lathrope TL 1:05.491 144.020 15 5.846 0.102
12 7 99 Grant Molloy TL 1:05.524 143.947 7 5.879 0.033
13 8 021 Craig Baird TL 1:05.556 143.877 12 5.911 0.032
14 9 23 Brendan Murphy TL 1:05.707 143.546 11 6.062 0.151
Teretonga Park Raceway
Generated on 23/01/2015 04:54 p.m.

Teretonga 23rd January 2015 Teretonga
Results of NZV8 Touring Cars - Test Session 13

Pos PIC No. Name Class Best Tm Best Speed In Lap Diff Gap
1 1 02 Jason Bargwanna TLX 59.782 157.773 10 t
2 2 1 Nick Ross TLX 1:00.123 156.878 11 0.341 0.341
3 3 007 Simon Richards TLX 1:01.505 153.353 17 1.723 1.382
4 4 84 Lance Hughes TLX 1:02.056 151.992 18 2.274 0.551
5 5 22 Scott Taylor TLX 1:02.111 151.857 21 2.329 0.055
6 1 8 Kevin Williams TL 1:04.030 147.306 9 4.248 1.919
7 2 5 Jamie Gaskin TL 1:04.218 146.875 4 4.436 0.188
8 3 73 Brad Lathrope TL 1:05.117 144.847 17 5.335 0.899
9 4 69 Liam MacDonald TL 1:05.153 144.767 12 5.371 0.036
10 5 33 Steve Taylor TL 1:05.425 144.165 13 5.643 0.272
11 6 99 Grant Molloy TL 1:05.488 144.026 12 5.706 0.063
12 7 55 Nathan Pilcher TL 1:05.634 143.706 18 5.852 0.146
13 8 23 Brendan Murphy TL 1:05.899 143.128 8 6.117 0.265

Teretonga Park Raceway
Generated on 23/01/2015 04:54 p.m.

NZV8 Touring Cars Points Standings

Category TL Championship
Pos Car No. Name Car Hometown Total Rd1 Rd2 Rd3
1 8 Kevin Williams Holden Manukau City, NZ 659 209 225 225
2 21 Craig Baird Holden Gold Coast, Aus 520 217 176 127
3 33 Steve Taylor Ford Hamilton, NZ 448 143 170 135
4 73 Brad Lathrope Ford Auckland, NZ 437 136 168 133
5 55 Nathan Pilcher Holden Winton, NZ 386 129 136 121
6 23 Brendan Murphy Holden Wellington, NZ 379 117 139 123
7 111 Brock Cooley Ford Wellington, NZ 252 90 162 0
8 5 Jamie Gaskin Ford Wellington, NZ 188 0 0 188
9 2 James McLaughlin Holden Lower Hutt. NZ 174 174 0 0
10 69 Liam MacDonald Ford Invercargill, NZ 169 0 0 169
11 99 Grant Molloy Ford Invercargill, NZ 144 0 0 144
12 70 Andrew Anderson Holden Auckland, NZ 114 114 0 0

Category TLX Series - New Generation Cars TLX
Pos Car No. Name Car Hometown Total Rd1 Rd2 Rd3
1 02 Jason Bargwanna Toyota Warragul, Australia 667 217 225 225
2 1 Nick Ross Nissan Cambridge, NZ 593 209 201 183
3 84 Lance Hughes Holden Hamilton, NZ 456 174 168 114
4 22 Scott Taylor Toyota Gold Coast, Australia 321 0 147 174
5 007 Ian Booth Holden Hamilton, NZ 288 114 174 0
6 007 Bronson Porter Holden Hamilton, NZ 67 0 0 67
Updated 18/1/15 after Round 3 of 6

NZV8 Touring Cars Calendar
November 1-2 Hampton Downs (completed)
November 29-30 Pukekohe Park Raceway (completed)
January 17-18 Ruapuna Raceway (completed)
January 24-25 Teretonga Park
February 14-15 Manfeild Park
April 25-26 Pukekohe Park Raceway

ENDS

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