Booth looks for positives from Manfeild’s V8Super round

Media release

30 April 2012

Booth looks for positives from Manfeild’s V8SuperTourer round

Racing from the back of the starting grid through to finish fifth was the best part of a weekend that Auckland V8SuperTourer driver Andy Booth describes as challenging.

Booth was competing in the Woodstock Holden in the third round of the V8SuperTourers at Manfeild Autocourse, Feilding over the weekend of 27 to 29 April.

“We certainly didn’t secure the results we were looking for at Manfeild,” says Booth. “But as a team, Woodstock Racing always strives to learn and we certainly gained plenty of valuable knowledge about how our car works in colder, wetter, changeable conditions.”

Booth describes conditions for the weekend’s first race on Saturday as trying.

“The setup that worked well for us at previous events didn’t transfer well to the cold, damp conditions and we struggled for grip and pace. Then the oddest mechanical fault that I’ve ever seen occurred – the wiper mechanism wrapped itself around the kill switch wiring which stopped the car dead!”

Starting the 25 lap second race from the back of the grid and coming through to finish the red-flagged interrupted race in fifth place provided the former New Zealand V8 touring car champion with the weekend’s highlight.

“The AV8 Motorsport team did an outstanding job getting the car setup much better and I was able to race really hard and with complete confidence to finish fifth and salvage a reasonable points’ haul.

“Starting from near the back again – the grid for race three is worked out on the points earned in the first two races – the car felt really good and I managed to make up some spots. We were all out on wet-spec Hankook tyres as the track was wet when we started, but as the track dried, we were using up the tyres pretty fast. The team got me in and we changed to slicks and were able to set the fastest lap for the race – which earns bonus points. It has the added bonus of a full pit-stop practice for the guys as we start thinking about the endurance races starting in August.”

An additional positive note for the team came overnight on Saturday as Woodstock Racing was named the V8 circuit racing team of the year in the 2012 Aftermarket Industry Awards.

Booth says: “Everyone at Woodstock Racing was rapt to be voted the V8 circuit racing team of the year so thanks to everyone who voted for us. It was one more positive highlight in an otherwise difficult weekend.”

Booth is looking for more productive testing in the Woodstock V8SuperTourer before the final round of the sprint championship at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park over the weekend of 1 to 3 June.

ENDS/

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