Battle Royal All Set for Pukekohe

Battle Royal All Set for Pukekohe

The Brother 350 – the third round of the BNT V8 SuperTourer 2013 series – has a unique appeal and will give race fans something they missed out on at the V8 Supercar event – a classic confrontation between the King of Pukekohe Greg Murphy and the young pretender to his throne, Scott McLaughlin.

When Murphy’s wild car entry for the Supercar event came to nothing, fans had to look to McLaughlin, Shane Van Gisbergen or Fabian Coulthard for the home win and it was the current V8 SuperTourer champ McLaughlin who gave the fans the home win they wanted.

On the home front McLaughlin has had a season to forget so far but is keen to bounce back and add to his tally on the challenging new track.

“It’s great to be coming back to Pukekohe and the BNT SuperTourers are definitely going to put on a fantastic weekend of racing for the fans. I grew up watching Murph make Pukekohe his own and I would have loved him to be out there racing at the ITM 400. Thankfully for the fans, they’ll be able to see all of the top Kiwis racing at this event – Murph, SVG, Johnny Mac, Andy Booth, Ant Pedersen, Craig Baird, Dan Gaunt and the rest.

“It’s going to be amazing and although my NZ season didn’t get off to a good start, we fully intend to come out fighting for wins at Pukekohe. We bounced back last year to win the title and we can do it again this time around.”

McLaughlin has been the biggest story in V8 Supercars so far this season and has emerged quickly as a race winner and contender. Murphy, however, has had been racing only in V8 SuperTourers in New Zealand – but he has been the best driver so far and leads the championship by a narrow margin from Pedersen.

“The SuperCars put on a good show back in April on the new Puke layout," said Murph. "Scott drove a faultless race one to record an amazing first victory and give the NZ fans something to remember. I will be giving him no freebees though when we go at it in our SuperTourers and we won't be the only two wanting to stamp some authority out there. The entire class has narrowed the gap and it will be a classic confrontation! Pukekohe has always been a special place for me and winning there will be massive for the Mike Pero M3 racing team. The fans are in for another full on weekend of V8 action.”

The weekend begins with support class testing on Friday with the SuperTourers out on Saturday for practice and qualifying and then three races on Sunday. Tickets and hospitality packages are available from the BNT V8 SuperTourer web site at www.v8st.co.nz.

ENDS

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