Bumper 4-Race Weekend For The Udc V8 Utes In Teretonga

After a record-breaking event at Timaru that saw the UDC V8 Utes reset the lap record twice, the utes continue their journey south to Teretonga Raceway for ‘Southern Thunder 2025’. Heading into Round Four over the weekend of March 15th-16th, Glen Collinson holds a comfortable lead in the series. Yet there’ll be enough points on offer for last year’s champion Brad Kroef - currently 2nd - and his father Greg Kroef in 3rd, to mount a challenge for the title.

Drivers have a big weekend ahead of them, while for spectators including over a hundred guests of UDC Finance, there’s a packed program which includes Mainland Muscle Cars, Napa NZ Super Trucks, pre-65 saloons and more.

A field of twelve Ford and Holden utes, including an all-new Ford Falcon ute racing for the first time, will barely have a chance to cool down between races during an intense race schedule. It kicks off with test sessions on the Thursday and Friday allowing drivers to familiarize themselves with a circuit none have raced on before. Across the weekend there’ll be a practice session, qualifying and four points-scoring races, with some utes even entering the ‘Teretonga One Hour’ enduro mid-Sunday afternoon.

Sadly Stu Monteith is a late withdrawal from the event after hurting his back, but has offered his #99 Holden ute to Jake Stoneman to race. Whilst a multiple race winner in a Ford, Jake prepares Stu’s ute for each event, so is more than familiar with what makes the Trade Depot Holden tick. Expect some fireworks up once Jake Stoneman gatecrashes the front runners in pursuit of more race wins.

This will be the first time that Invercargill fans will have had the opportunity to see these 1800kg, 400 horsepower utes in action. Despite the Ford and Holden utes running any of three engines, the utes are category-controlled to have the same power output and the same weight, resulting in close, competitive racing.

Teretonga is NZ’s oldest permanent racetrack and the most southerly circuit in the world, located at 86 Sandy Point Rd, Otatara just 10 minutes from Invercargill. On Friday there are test sessions at 10.00am, 11.30am, 2pm & 3.30pm. Saturday 14th March there’s a practice session mid-morning followed by a 15-minute Qualifying session, then Race One later in the afternoon. Sunday morning’s Race Two will be a reverse-grid format, with Race Three late morning. Some utes will be entering the afternoon’s ‘Teretonga One-Hour’ enduro, with it all coming to a head in Race Four later in the day.

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