Second win for Gardiner

Media Release – Carter Tyres South Island Endurance Series – One Hour Series
Round 2
Mike Pero Motorsport Park
Ruapuna, Christchurch
Saturday 1 October 2016

Second win for Gardiner in Carter’s Tyres One Hour Endurance Series

Aucklander Hugh Gardiner has continued to dominate the 2016 Carters Tyres One Hour Endurance Series, winning the second round held at the Mike Pero Motorsport Series in Christchurch over the weekend. The Porsche 997 GT3 driver won easily from Dunedin’s Chris Henderson (Toyota Corolla AE86 V8) with Christchurch’s Grant Williams/Brent Buist (Ford Falcon V8ST) third.

It wasn’t straight forward for the top three with several setbacks meaning the result would not be clear until the chequered flag.

While Gardiner qualified fastest, it was Henderson who grabbed the lead from the start until Gardiner got by after two completed laps. Gardiner then continued to increase his lead until lap 12 when he was given a drive through penalty for passing under a yellow (caution) flag.

“I’m not sure where that happened as there was a lot going on out there with all the traffic,” commented Gardiner. “Anyway, rules are rules so we served it and set about regaining the lead.”

This dropped him to fourth and gave Henderson the lead. This would only last another four laps as a safety car period just before the halfway mark bunched the field up and many took the time to complete their mandatory pitstop. Both Henderson and Gardiner, who had moved up to second at this stage, pitted. The outcome was that Gardiner came of the pits out first and took the lead until the end of the 60 minute race.

“It was a hard race, really hot out there and a lot of traffic so we had to be careful,” said Gardiner. “Last year we unfortunately didn’t finish after clashing with traffic so we had to be real careful today. We’re thrilled with the win and the series lead heading to the last round at Levels (Timaru).”

It was the second time Henderson has finished to Gardiner in the 2016 series, with a similar result at the opening round at Teretonga Park, Invercargill three weeks ago. While Gardiner leads the GT class, Henderson continues to be second overall and first in Class 1 (>3501cc) with Bruce Davidson (Chev Corvette C6R) second in class and eighth overall.

“Qualifying went to plan and we started well,” commented Henderson. “We just can’t compete with the speed of the Gardiner’s Porsche.”

Third place getters Williams and Buist nearly lost their podium position after spinning on the last corner heading for the chequered flag. Fourth home was Jarod Owens (Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) followed by Allan Dippie (Porsche 997 Cup s) and Russell McKenzie (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup). Seventh home after starting at the rear of the grid after a qualifying issue was Danny Whiting from Christchurch, also in a Porsche 991 GT3 Cup car. Whiting had made short work of getting through the 41 car field.

Fastest Class 2 (2001-350cc) home was the very quick BMW E36 M3 of Andrew Wright from Rakaia, finishing in 12th overall. He finished just in front of the first three Class 3 (1-2000cc) cars home. Mark Meadows (Lotus Exige) finished 13th, Jeremy Dawson (Toyota Starlet)14th and Stuart Black/Aaron Black (Toyota Starlet) 15th.

The Carters Tyres One Hour Race Series now heads to Timaru International Raceway, Timaru on October 15th for the final deciding round.

ENDS

One Hour Race Results

1 Hugh Gardiner
2 Chris Henderson
3 Grant Williams/Brent Buist
4 Jarrod Owens
5 Allan Dippie
6 Russell McKenzie
7 Danny Whiting
8 Bruce Davidson
9 Paul Wright
10 Tim O'Connor
11 Lee Rhodes
12 Andrew Wright
13 Mark Meadows
14 Jeremy Dawson
15 Stuart Black/Arron Black
16 Johnny Wilson
17 Jason Hewitson
18 Steve Grant
19 Matthew O'Donnell/Keiran Grace
20 Dan Yeoman
21 Ian Wooster
22 Sam Bushell
23 Chris Small/Johnny Small
24 Jim Kelly
25 Simon Askin
26 James Dicey/Steve Heffernan
27 Vaughan Moloney
28 Reon Hotton
29 Ben Coffin
dnf Warren Good
dnf Noel Simons/Roger Townshend
dnf Bradley Dawson
dnf Miles Cockram
dnf Stewart Callaway/Rory Callaway
dnf Adam Glass
dnf Michael Parkes/Rodney Parkes
dnf Russell Burgess
dnf Vicki Curzon Derek Curzon
dnf Justin Ashwell
dnf Steve Parker/Matt Jackson
dnf Graham McDermid/Lee McDermid
dnf Geoff Clear
dns Alyssa Clapperton/Ian Clapperton
dns Kieran Roberts
dns Nick Archibald Wayne Leach
dns James Mitchell

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