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Gaunt Wins Mike Pero Need For Speed But Murphy Leads On Points
Tasman Motorsports Daniel Gaunt bagged two wins and a second place to take a dominant round win and victory in the Mike Pero Need for Speed – the second round of the BNT V8 SuperTourer championship.
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The great result – on a circuit where Tasman Motorsports scored their first V8 SuperTourer victory at the end of the last season - moves Gaunt up to third in the series.
“I don’t think we could have asked for anything better,” said Gaunt. “Hampton Downs for us was a weekend that could have been and it was my mistake that we ended up with a poor result. To come back here and get race wins and a round win is fantastic. I am so grateful for the opportunity and it rewards the hard effort that Steve and Christine put into this team.”
Greg Murphy maintained his championship lead, a retirement in race three hitting an otherwise healthy points haul for the day. Ant Pedersen – who showed blinding speed in qualifying with a record lap for the BNT V8 SuperTourers – was frustrated to be turned around whilst racing with Shane van Gisbergen in the first race, but he recovered to eighth in that, finished sixth in race two and turned in one of the drives of the weekend to take the Need for Speed feature race win from sixth on the grid. Second for the round moved him to second in the championship, just 59 points behind Murphy.
Third for the round – his best result so far in V8 SuperTourer racing – was iconic racer Craig Baird in the familiar United Videos Ford Falcon V8ST. He put his worst tyres on for the first race – the shortest of the three on the day – and held on to take a solid fourth place. A great opening lap in race two secured him third spot, and he held onto that until the end and he was competitive once again the feature race, staying out of trouble and taking fourth.
RACE 1
GAUNT EMERGES FROM DRAMA TO WIN MIKE PERO NEED FOR SPEED RACE 1
Dan Gaunt emerged from some late race drama to take his second consecutive win at the Powerbuilt Tools Raceway in BNT V8 SuperTourers this morning.
Gaunt, who won the final race in the enduro series at the track in November, spent much of the race in third place fending off advances from Greg Murphy behind him, but the race all changed on lap 10 of 12 when the two leaders - pole position holder Ant Pedersen and fellow front man Shane van Gisbergen - clashed in spectacular style at the second esses section.
Pedersen had led away from pole position with the V8 Supercar ace in close attendance, and despite pressing on hard in the early stages, had not been able to break the number 97 MPC Falcon. For eight laps the two were within two or three car lengths of eachother, with van Gisbergen taking the occasional look up the inside. On lap 8 Pedersen had a substantial lock up at the hairpin and from that moment on van Gisbergen was in full attack mode, looking to pressure Pedersen into another mistake.
The reality was that both were struggling a little with tyres having worked them very hard in the opening laps of the race. This was allowing the train behind of Gaunt, Murphy, Heimgartner, Baird (on his oldest tyres so he could a new set for each of the next two races), Moore, Walsh and McIntyre to move closer.
Into the second esses on lap 10 and van Gisbergen made his move down the inside. Pedersen defended and the two cars touched. With both unstable over the kerbs at that point anyway, they both gyrated off into the dirt, costing both any chance of victory or even a major placing. "I'm gutted, the win was there," said a disconsolate Pedersen afterwards. "I think we were both struggling a little for grip, but that's not really a part of the track where a pass is on in my opinion." No action was taken against either driver after the race, with most putting it down to a straightforward racing incident.
Gaunt took full advantage after a faultless race and emerged from the dust cloud in a battle for the lead with Murph. The Tasman ace kept it all together and romped home to take his second win in V8 SuperTourers.
Murphy finished a solid second, pretty happy to bag a big points haul from a fifth place start, whilst Heimgartner was delighted to finish third after a difficult Saturday. Craig Baird was fourth but certain afterwards he could have gone even quicker, despite using his oldest tyres. "There's something at the back not quite right, we'll have a look at it before Race 2 and see if we can get it back to where we know it can be."
Richard Moore continued his good streak with fifth place, with Ashley Walsh and John McIntyre making good recovery drives from lowly grid positions to finish sixth and seventh. Pedersen recovered to take eighth while Paul Manuell and Simon Evans completed the top ten.
Scott McLaughlin had a troubled race, a fuse blowing in his fly by wire throttle system and forcing him to pit for a quick fix. Once back out there he was very fast, clocking the best lap of the race. Andy booth was an early pit visitor, wrecking his race. Eddie Bell failed to make the start after engine pulley dramas forced the team to sit out the race to protect their engine.
RACE 2
TWO FROM TWO FOR GAUNT
Tasman Motorsports Daniel Gaunt made it two V8 SuperTourer wins from two at the Powerbuilt Tools Raceway after a dominant performance in the second sixteen lap race today at the Mike Pero Need for Speed meeting.
Starting from pole after inheriting the race one win, Gaunt streaked away from fellow front row man Greg Murphy, carving out an advantage of almost two seconds on the first lap to leave the chasing pack breathless.
Using just two of the four new tyres they had left for the final two races, Gaunt put in a string of sub 1.24 second laps to carve out a four second advantage by the fifth lap. "We used two new tyres and we are confident we have the car speed to deliver the results on that strategy. Obviously the first three laps for us were critical. We had good speed having adjusted our tyre pressures and that is all we did. the car was a dream to drive and it was just about pushing like hell early on when I had clean air. After that and when you get the gap it's all about maintaining a good solid pace, which we were able to do."
Murph meanwhile had his mirrors full of a very racy Craig Baird, the United Videos Falcon V8ST running on four new tyres and piling pressure on the Mike Pero car throughout the race. Murph's defence held up, however, and there was nothing Baird or the chasing duo of Heimgartner and a fast closing Ashley Walsh could do.
Shane van Gisbergen's rapid rise through the field came to an end on lap seven when he caught up with John McIntyre, who was already sporting some bodywork modifications on car 47 inflicted early on in the race. McIntyre had van Gisbergen on one side and McLaughlin on the other and had literally nowhere to go when he was tagged and turned by the Clipsal 500 winner. A drive through was given to van Gisbergen, but it meant nothing as he had already pulled into the pits with damage resulting from the crash. McIntyre got going again, but languished down in 15th, where he would stay to the flag.
They made up the top five while a disconsolate Ant Pedersen held off a charging Scott McLaughlin for sixth. Simon Evans was the man on the move from tenth on the grid early on in the race. A brave start saw him gain two places around the outside of Turn 1 before he settled into eighth. He looked on the pace throughout the 16 laps, and could have been seventh had he been able to hold off reigning champion McLaughlin. It was nevertheless a solid result for Team 4 and Mitch Evans' older brother, a very skilled racer in his own right.
Rounding out the top ten after relatively action free races were Richard Moore and Angus Fogg.
RACE 3
PEDERSEN BOUNCES BACK TO WIN NEED FOR SPEED FEATURE RACE
Ant Pedersen bounced back from a tough day to win the feature race in style, passing race leader Daniel Gaunt and holding on after a safety car restart to take the chequered flag.
Pedersen made a great start from sixth on the grid and emerged at the end of the first lap in third place, with only the front row men Daniel Gaunt and Greg Murphy ahead. Behind them, Andre Heimgartner made a lunge up the inside at the first turn and ran wide, holding it together for a moment before being swallowed by the pack. In his haste to keep momentum he ran wide again, forcing Andy Booth out very wide.
The dust settled long enough to see that at the end of lap two Gaunt led from Murphy, Pedersen, an impressive Ashley Walsh, Craig Baird (at the sharp end again), a very fast starting Simon Evans and Richard Moore. On lap 3 more electrical gremlins struck champion Scott McLaughlin. He stopped out near the bomb hole on the track forcing a safety car, the first of two in the race and bizarrely as the marshals set to collecting him and getting things underway again, Greg Murphy's car pulled up nearby as well.
When the race resumed Gaunt led from Pedersen but the International Motorsport driver was fully charged and dived down the inside as they braked for the hairpin, then quickly moved away to establish a narrow, but relatively comfortable lead.
The race settled into a pattern with Pedersen and Gaunt circulating out front and the chasing group behind comprising Walsh, Baird, Evans, Moore, Manuell and McIntyre in their own squabble for the minor places. It all turned sour for Evan on lap nine when his car slowed and he came into the pits for a check over, re-joining later but having lost two laps and the chance of a fantastic result.
Pedersen started to pull away at the front of the field by lap 11, with Gaunt falling a little behind - presumably protecting his obvious lead for the overall round honours. Ashley Walsh was in a solid third ahead of Baird, though the veteran ace was never more than a couple of car lengths in arrears. Richard Moore was cranking along nicely behind Baird in fifth and Johnny Mac was also charging along trying to become part of the group and salvage something from a difficult day.
In much the same situation was Andy Booth, on the comeback trail after his incident with Heimgartner early on. Head down and in full attack mode, Boothy was great to watch and he carved through the field, passing Cunningham to get back into the top ten on lap 13.
Track debris brought out the Safety car on lap 16, which was good news for Gaunt and the rest of the pack chasing Ant Pedersen as he had started to assert himself. Pedersen remained cool though, and led away at the restart. They all streamed through without incident until the hairpin when Angus Fogg out-braked himself and spun.
Pedersen now led from Gaunt, Walsh, Baird, Moore, McIntyre and Manuell. Shane van Gisbergen had been working his way through the field nicely but ran out of brakes early on and slowly but surely fell to the back of the field, brakeless and happy to coast the car to a finish.
Heimgartner's wild day continued with a mistake on lap 19 that pushed him behind Booth and Edgell, elevating them to eighth and ninth. That's how it stayed until the end, Pedersen a happy if relieved feature race winner and Gaunt the clear round winner and class act of the day.
Round results – Mike Pero Need for Speed – BNT V8 SuperTourers Round 2
1. Daniel Gaunt – Tasman Motorsports Valvoline Ford Falcon V8ST
2. Ant Pedersen – International Motorsport JA Russell Ford Falcon V8ST
3. Craig Baird – PSR West United Videos Ford Falcon V8ST
4. Andre Heimgartner – MPC Hydraulink Holden Commodore V8ST
5. Ashley Walsh – MPC BOC Holden Commodore V8ST
6. Greg Murphy – M3 Racing Mike Pero Mortgages Holden Commodore V8ST
7. Richard Moore – M3 Racing Whitehaven Holden Commodore V8ST
8. Paul Manuell – M3 Racing ORIX Holden Commodore V8ST
9. John McIntyre – JMR Blackwoods Protector Ford Falcon V8ST
10. Andy Booth – AV8 motorsport Woodstock Holden Commodore V8ST
PaddockTalk Perspective
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