George Mcfarlane Takes ASKO One hour Series Finale

MEDIA RELEASE DISTRIBUTED ON BEHALF OF THE SOUTH ISLAND ENDURANCE RACING DRIVERS SERIES  

George Mcfarlane Takes ASKO One hour Series Finale While williams Takes Title 

Grant Williams of Christchurch sealed the ASKO One Hour Endurance Race Series title when he and co-driver Brent Buist in a Mazda RX7 V8 crossed the line in second place behind Christchurch driver George McFarlane of Christchurch in a Porsche GT3 at the final round of the series at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell on Saturday.

Williams had taken three wins from three starts prior to the final round and second place was enough for him to seal the overall series title as well as the Class 1 honours for the series.

McFarlane was the dominant driver in the final round though, taking pole position and leading for the majority of the distance in a race punctuated by two safety car periods, the first when Ron Shelton of Timaru had a fire in his Nissan Silvia and the second at the end of the race when the Porsche of George Randle of Auckland went into the wall. The race actually finished behind the safety car after this late race incident.

McFarlane had experienced a wretched run of luck in the earlier rounds despite showing plenty of speed and his victory was good reward at the end of a tough series. Williams and Buist were second with another Christchurch pair Hayden Knighton/Garry Cliff third in their Porsche GT3 997. Porsche drivers Phil Hood, Danny Whiting and Phil Mauger were fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

Tony Head of Cambridge was seventh in his turbocharged Toyota Altezza, Chris Henderson of Dunedin eighth in a turbocharged Toyota Corolla and Tim O'Connor of Lower Hutt ninth in the Ferrari 458. Anthony Tucker of Prebbleton was the first Class 2 car home in tenth with Invercargill driver Jeremy Dawson, the first Class 3-4 car in twelfth place overall.

Major casualties were Warren Good of Dunedin in his BMW who retired early, Kieran Roberts/Nathan Pilcher in their Holden Commodore and Brian Scott of Dunedin in his Corvette late in the race.

Full series results and class points will be available in the next few days.

As well as the silverware on offer for both overall & class winners, thanks to Series sponsors Mobil 1, Hagley Aluminium, Paul Kelly Motor Company and Southern Finance Ltd a total of $30,000 in prizemoney is paid out across the ASKO Endurance Series. Also up for grabs was an original watercolour painting by Dunedin artist Norman Sinclair valued at approx. $10,000-00, and a set of Michelin race tyres as a spot prize to a competitor in either the Three Hour or One Hour Series.

ENDS

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