The Pirelli Porsche series brings an additional 29 examples of the finest automotive engineering to the Super Sprint MotorSport New Zealand Championship event being held at Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell, 13-15 January.
Enjoying rapid growth as a category, its line-up of drivers spans generations and experience as they converge for a four-race weekend to the Central Otago location. The line-up covers six generations of the marque in a first for the series and Highlands as they add to the summer season of motor race action.
Seasoned campaigner and commentating the weekend’s racing, Stu Owers says the trip south is a new highlight for the North Island based contingent: “This season a number of competitors have made the move from Porsche trackdays to real racing and are having the thrill of their lives. A frequently heard comment is that they wish they made the move years ago. The drivers age and experience range from people like Robert Dong who has been racing various Porsches in our championship consecutively for 25 years through to a teenaged Regan Scoullar who is having his second season with us.”
The Pirelli Porsche races are very much club-based events and each weekend sees a high level of comradery and an active social atmosphere amongst the drivers and crews.
The third of seven rounds for their championship season, it is the first of two in the South Island.
Action starts on Friday with three practice sessions. Qualifying and the first race of 10 laps is held on Saturday morning with a second 10-lap race held in the afternoon. A third 10-lap race will be held on Sunday morning with a 30-minute race held in the afternoon.