Cambridge driver Nick Ross has taken the lead of the BNT V8s Championship following round one at Pukekohe.
Cambridge V8 driver Nick Ross has taken the lead of the BNT V8s Championship at Pukekohe last weekend, taking two wins and a second placing.
Qualifying in position two, Ross and his Total Lubricants Nissan Altima finished second in the opening race of the weekend behind Australian Jack Smith, before leading the young Aussie home in the final two races on Sunday.
The final race of the weekend saw Ross lead for much of it, before an aggressive move by Smith saw him sneak by the Nissan Altima of Ross at the hairpin.
Smith looked to cruise into the distance and take the win when catching a backmarker at the hairpin he was forced him wide onto the grass and allowed Ross to retake the lead with just two laps to go.
For Ross, it was a satisfying way to start his championship campaign.
“A good way to start the season. We actually could have had three wins, but we had a brake issue which hampered us, and let Jack by into the lead in that first race,” Nick said.
“I have to give credit to the Hamilton Motorsports team, those two cars of Jack and Lance Hughes are hooked up and are fast. We had to fight all the way to keep in front of them, especially Jack. He’s very fast this year.
“We’ve just got to work harder to stay ahead of them.
“Jack was pretty aggressive in that last race, which is fine, that’s how you want it to be – hard close racing.
Always searching for ways to make his Nissan Altima better, Ross says that despite they great result, there are still improvements to be made.
“I’m not totally happy with the car, we seem to have lost a bit of the balance that we had towards the end of last season. So we’ll work on that ahead of the next round.”
With Ross, Smith and Hughes sitting first, second and third in the Championship currently, it is expected the position of Smith could be altered with post-race investigations underway.
During race three, Smith made contact with the Toyota Camry of Scott Taylor at the hairpin, which sent the Toyota driver into the side of the Holden of Matt Tubbs. Forcing both cars out of the race.
The BNT V8s return to Pukekohe for round two, December 8-9, where the Championship will tackle the old shorter version of the circuit.
