It all came right for Pukekohe driver Jody Vincent on the
second day of competition at the Hamilton 400 V8 Supercar
meeting on Sunday, the 26-year-old claiming his debut win
with an impressive lights-to-flag victory in the final reverse
top six grid race of the Trophy round weekend over Daniel
Gaunt and Mark Russ.
Series regular Vincent has always been one of the top
locally-based drivers competing in the Battery Town Porsche
GT3 Cup Challenge championship series. And he has
definitely been in the position - particularly in the reverse grid
third races, most recently at the final championship round at
Pukekohe - to claim a win before. But each time, something
has gone wrong.
This time nothing did. And the long-time Porsche GT3 Cup
series racer was still trying to come to terms with the fact
as he was surrounded by well-wishers in the International
Motorsport compound immediately afterwards.
"To win the last race of the season in front of such a large
crowd? It's fantastic. Just fantastic. I knew, once I was in
front and pulling away, that a win, obviously, was on the
cards, but I've been there so many times before that part of
me was thinking what's going to happen this time? I tried to
forget about it and just drive my own race but it was always
in the back of my mind," he admitted.
Though a first corner tangle took out fastest qualifier and
first race winner Craig Baird (who started from P6 on the
grid) and slowed series guest driver John McIntyre, Vincent
put on a copybook display of fast, controlled driving to first
establish then maintain a lead he would never lose over
former singe-seater ace and reigning New Zealand Grand
Prix champion Daniel Gaunt, and the first of the category's
young guns, Mark Russ.
With Baird's car squeezed into the wall when John McIntyre
and Courtney Letica collided exiting the first corner, the
Safety Car was deployed for two laps so that the Baird car
could be removed, and when the Safety Car returned to the
pits Vincent also got the best of the restart leaving Gaunt to
fend off Vincent's fellow front row starter Mark Russ.
Like Vincent, Russ was enjoying his strongest run of the
season, trying everything he knew to force Gaunt into a
mistake.
Gaunt, however, is made of sterner stuff and despite several
serious looking lockups held second place to the flag.
"The bumps round here are certainly tricky in one of these
cars, particularly when you are under pressure " the 24-yearold
said of his often wild ride round the 3.4 km downtown
Hamilton circuit. "It didn't help of course that I'd spent the
weekend playing catchup after getting caught out by the red
flag in qualifying. All credit to Jody though. If I had been in
the position to put my head down and chase him I might
have been able to go with him but he certainly had some
pace and all year long he's somehow been able to save up
and have genuine pace in these third races so the win was
well-deserved."
With the victory Vincent became just the fourth Battery Town
Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge race winner this season, joining
series champion Craig Baird, Baird's Triple X Motorsport
teammate David Reynolds (racing a V8 Supercar this
weekend) and Vincent's International Motorsport teammate
Jono Lester.
Lester could not quite match the pace in the final that he
showed in qualifying and the first two races, where he was
second only to Baird, but fourth place behind Vincent, Gaunt
and Russ was enough to give him the round win from Gaunt
and Vincent.
Vincent qualified fifth then finished the first race of the
weekend in fifth position but found himself on the back foot
in the second race when his car started overheating and he
was forced into the pits.
Ironically it was his seventh place finish in the second race
which combined with his fifth in the first which gave him pole
for the reverse top six grid final, opening the way for his
breakthrough win in the third.
Another driver to enjoy a better run in the final race was Ant
Pedersen who broke a driveshaft in the second race but
forced his way from P10 on the grid to fifth in the final,
setting the fastest race lap in the process as he pulled away
from Courteny Letica and closed in on Lester who he
harrowed to the flag.
And what did guest driver John McIntyre think of his return to
the Battery Town Porsche GT3 ranks?
McIntyre was initially credited with the second quickest time
in qualifying but was demoted a spot for bringing out the red
flag late in the session as he tried to go even faster.
He then spent the best part of both Saturday races playing
catchup only to get caught up with Baird and Letica in the
final and have to pit for a new left rear tyre while the Safety
Car was on the track.
Not quite the result he wanted. But it certainly had the
NZV8s class front-runner thinking.
"They're a real race car, "he said of the 997 GT3 Cup car he
drove for the Triple X Motorsport team "You've got to be on
it all the time and as the weekend went on I probably got
more confused between the V8 and the Porsche.
With the V8, if you like, you've got to stroke it along whereas with the Porsche there's a lot more intensity and a lot
more equipment which you can use hard so I think that though they are rear engined, grip-wise and brake-wise they've
got more in common with a V8 Supercar than my car."
And Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge champion Craig Baird? The man who has been the dominant figure in
the Porsche GT3 Cup class racing on both sides of the Tasman for the past five years has never been a great fan of
the reverse top six format for the final race and it certainly didn't do him any favours on Sunday.
"I got a blinder start to get between John McIntyre and Daniel Gaunt and then tried to make up another spot went
wide no problem but where the kink is in the wall I got squeezed where it is a bit rounded and it broke something in
the front, "he explained.
Though he regretted what happened Baird said he was going for position: Its not a place I would have positioned
myself if it were a championship round. I was trying to make up four spots by turn one and put myself in a vulnerable
position and paid the price.
Qualifying
1. Craig Baird 1.26.7143
2. Jono Lester 1.27.3657
3. John McIntyre 1.27.5119
4. Ant Pedersen 1.27.5200
5. Daniel Gaunt 1.27.5231
6. Jody Vincent 1.27.7423
7. Courtney Letica1.28.0648
8. Mark Russ 1.28.5562
9. Darryn Henderson1.29.0643
10. Rob Steele 1.30.2487
11. Mike Morton 1.32.4281
12. Ben Storey 1.38.8589
Race 1 (12 laps)
1. Craig Baird 18.54.2951
2. Jono Lester 18.53.8742
3. Ant Pedersen 18.56.8115
4. Daniel Gaunt 18.57.9212
5. Jody Vincent 18.58.1043
6. John McIntyre 19.00.0714
7. Courtney Letica 19.00.5006
8. Rob Steele 19.16..6659
9. Mike Morton 19.32.3348
10. Mark Russ 4 laps
11. Ben Storey 1 lap
Fastest lap: Craig Baird 1:26.8044
Race 2 (12 laps)
1. Craig Baird 17.29.7504
2. Jono Lester 17.34.1945
3. Daniel Gaunt 17.38.8281
4. John McIntyre 17.42.9656
5. Mark Russ 17.49.4239
6. Rob Steele 18.32.8200
7. Jody Vincent 18.56.9552
8. Courtney Letica 18.59.2209
dnf Mike Morton, Ant Pedersen
Fastest lap: Craig Baird
1.26.68121.
Race 3 (12 Laps reverse top six grid)
1. Jody Vincent 21:07.3366
2. Daniel Gaunt 21:08.5281
3. Mark Russ 21:09.1007
4. Jono Lester 21:09.8490
5. Ant Pedersen 21:10.0250
6. Courtney Letica 21:11.2834
7. John McIntyre 21:12.3402
8. Rob Steele 21:37.9282
dnf; Mike Morton, Darryn Henderson,
Craig Baird
Fastest lap: Ant Pedersen 1.27.228
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