M2 Motorsport supporters magazine:V8 SUPERTOURERS 2013 - ROUND THREE, PUKEKOHE

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TURN 9190 KM/H

TURN 11 (THE MOUNTAIN)

170 KM/H

BRAKING POINT

165 KM/HTURN 8

(HAIRPIN)60 KM/H

TURN 680 KM/H

TURN 590 KM/H

PUKEKOHE PARK RACEWAYtrack info:

Auckland’s Pukekohe Park Raceway is the venue for round three of the 2013 V8SuperTourers series; a circuit that is remarkable for being both one of the oldest and newest circuits in New Zealand.

Originally opened in 1963, the circuit has been modified a few times over the years, but the addition of turns five, six, and seven, and the edge-of-the-track concrete barriers from the Hamilton street circuit (both to accommodate the V8Supercar meeting in April) meant that very few V8SuperTourer drivers had faced the challenge of this layout when the first practice session got underway on Friday.

Despite the changes, Pukekohe has retained its essential character: a fast, bumpy, rip snorter of a track, popular with fans and regarded by many as the spiritual home of motorsport in New Zealand.

Track website: www.pukekoheparkraceway.co.nz

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TURN 1190 KM/H TURN 3

(CASTROL)140 KM/H

TURN 4 (RAILWAY)90 KM/H

BRAKING POINT

225 KM/HTURN 590 KM/H

START/FINISH LINE

TOP SPEED240 KM/H

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introduction:ROUND THREE - PUKEKOHE

Anticipation had been running high as the M2 Motorsport team headed to Pukekohe Park Raceway last weekend; the changes to the track providing a fresh challenge to almost all of the drivers in the series. And with a succesful test day a week earlier at Manfeild giving Simon more confidence in the car, things were looking positive.

However the rain that arrived for practice and Qualifying sessions on Saturday had far more of an effect that we were expecting. These were to be our first sessions in the wet in the M2 Motorsport V8SuperTourer and, a fast, greasy, bumpy, concrete-wall-lined circuit like Pukekohe isn’t the ideal place to learn or qualify in a 550HP missile!

Simon: “The first challenge for us was the new layout, which I’d heard some mixed reviews about and I haven’t driven on before.” “But I was quite happily surprised yesterday; I quite enjoy the new complex, and with it comes new challenges. Especially with the weather; it doesn’t drain the water very well there and we haven’t had a lot of running (if any) in this series on a wet weather tyre, so any positive steps we made yesterday morning in the dry went out the window as soon as the rain started coming down.”

Despite having pace inside the top ten at times, wet condtions caught out many drivers during Qualifying and the session was constantly being started and stopped to allow recovery crews to rescue stranded cars. This made it hard to build the rhythm necessary to put in a fast lap, and we qualified in 19th position overall.

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QUALIFYINGcapture:

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report:RACE ONE

The weather on Sunday looked to be a vast improvement on Saturday, with the day getting underway with fine, sunny conditions, and the track wet in places, but dry or drying over most of the track.

Unfortunately hopes of a clean day’s racing weren’t to last long. The field motored over the Mountain for the start of race one, and almost as soon as the lights had turned green, cars were bouncing across the greasy track and into the walls; Ashley Walsh and Andy Booth coming off worst with serious damage to both cars, with Walsh requiring a trip to hospital. Dom Storey came to grief later that lap, while Angus Fogg survived the clash, but retired to pitlane.

With the race stopped, cars recovered, and track damage repaired, the field formed up for a re-start, only to see the race red-flagged again after Mitch Cunningham went off over the Mountain, recovered, and then went off again at turn four.

With the race underway for a third time, Simon had been fortunate to escape damage entirely and gain a number of places due to other drivers’ retirements. From there it was just a matter of staying out of trouble and picking up a pleasant 12th place by race end.

“I think we had good pace....I was faster than a couple of the guys in front of me...so we’re there or thereabouts...I just need to put the rest of the pieces together.” “At the end of the day, finishing a car-length behind Kayne Scott isn’t so bad!”

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report:

Unfortunately race two was to see Simon’s good luck desert him entirely. With the exception of Angus Fogg (who went straight ahead at turn one), the field all got through the start cleanly and the race looked to be underway without the carnage we’d seen earlier. By turn three, however, Richard Moore had been spun, and as Simon approached, his view was blocked by traffic ahead. When Daniel Gaunt jinked right to avoid Moore, Simon was left with nowhere to go and impacted Richard’s car heavily, sending Simon into the air and sustaining fairly major damage to the car, but luckily no serious injuries.

The crash meant the M2 Motorsport team were out for the rest of the meeting; a frustration for the team after the troubles of the previous round at Ruapuna seemed to have been offset by real promise shown in race one.

The reality is that there was absolutely nothing Simon could have done to avoid the accident, so it’s just a matter of taking some time out before repairing the car in time for round four at Taupo in early September, where Simon plans to continue the progress he and the team had made before the accident.

“We’re making some awesome strides; the team’s doing an awesome job in developing this car, and getting me used to it.” “I’ll be looking forward to getting back in the car and having another crack.”

RACE TWO

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Photo: Neville Bailey Photography/V8SuperTourers

PITLANEcapture:

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We are currently looking for partners to join M2 Motorsport for the 2013 season. If you are a nationally based business, or local to one of the V8SuperTourers rounds in Auckland, Waikato, Taupo or Canterbury,

and are interested in an exclusive opportunity to accelerate your brand, please contact us!

Produced for M2 Motorsport by Championship Digital ©2013 Championship Digital

Simon McLennanPh: 0274 072808

simon.mclennan@m2motorsport.co.nz

Colin McLennanPh: 0274 407671

colin.mclennan@m2motorsport.co.nz

M2 Motorsport20 Dunns Street

SilverstreamUpper Hutt 5019

M2 Motorsport would like to thank supporters of our 2013 season: