Race win better end to tough day for McIntyre at Manfeild

Race win better end to tough day for McIntyre at Manfeild NZV8s

Winning the reverse grid race helped two-time NZV8 champion John McIntyre finish the Manfeild round of the NZV8 series on a positive note.

“That was our fifth win of the season – virtually a start-to-finish win – so that’s something positive out of what was a very difficult day for John McIntyre Racing,” said the Nelson-based driver who moves from third place into fourth on the championship points-table after being unable to finish one race due to a mechanical failure.

Having qualified third fastest in Saturday’s top ten shootout, McIntyre looked set for a positive day of racing in the #47 Amcor Falcon on Sunday when BNT V8s Championship competitors contested three races in very hot conditions at the popular Feilding race circuit.

“In that first race, there was some unpleasant stuff going on with what I thought was the differential from about the third lap, and I was doing my best to coax the car around to complete eight of the 12 laps, which would have meant I completed 75% of the race and would therefore be qualified as a finisher to earn points,” said McIntyre.

“Sadly that wasn’t to be. The whole diff housing came away from the car. We’ve never seen anything like it – broken mounts and an enormous amount of damage under the car. So we just had to wait for the tow truck and then the team went to work and, boy, did we work hard! It was literally down to the wire to have the car repaired and put back together for race two at 12:45 pm. With just a few seconds to spare, we made it out onto the dummy grid, and things still weren’t 100% right so I took it pretty easy, starting from the back and soldiering on. I managed to ease up through the field to tenth, which was again something positive.”

Starting the reverse grid third race from the front row of the field, McIntyre said he had to nail that race win.

“The guys were still working on the car between races and then we simply had to win the final race, which we did and with a respectable margin of 9.6 seconds over second-placed Paul Manuell.

“So it wasn’t the weekend of racing we hoped for, but we never give up and will be 100% focussed for Taupo in a month’s time.”

The sixth and penultimate round of the BNT V8s Championship takes place at the Taupo Motorsport Park over the weekend of 12 to 13 March before the season finale on the streets of Hamilton as the major support category for the Australian V8 Supercars at the ITM 400 in April.

John McIntyre Racing thanks the following sponsors for their support this season: Blackwoods Paykels, Protector Safety, Amcor, Talley's, Castrol Edge, BP Ultimate, NZ Ceiling and Drywall Supplies, Ideal Electrical, Websters Hydrated Lime Co, Squawking Magpie Wines, Dynamic Fluid Systems, EATON, Ford New Zealand, Irwin Tools and Showquip.

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