Ross Shows All His Hunger for NZV8TC Title

Media Release
19th November 2013

NZV8 Touring Cars 2013-14
Concept Motorsport - Nick Ross
Round One - Pukekohe Park Raceway

Ross Shows All His Hunger for NZV8TC Title

Cambridge driver Nick Ross showed in no uncertain terms just how serious he is over claiming the NZV8TC title this year after three very tough battles between himself and current champion Jason Bargwanna.

Claiming pole position for the Total Lubricants Holden Commodore in the Top 10 Shootout on Saturday morning Ross placed himself in a strong position for the opening race and was immediately involved in a rugged no-holds-barred battle for the title with Bargwanna in his Toyota Camry.

This battle came to a head when Ross, placing pressure on Bargwanna from behind attempted to squeeze through at the new section of the Pukekohe circuit but was forced to detour through the escape route to rejoin the track.

"I went racing into the Chute trying to pass Bargwanna but was unable to pull the car up in time and had to go through the old section of the track. When I came back onto the track I unfortunately rejoined in the wrong position and was later penalised for this." said Ross.

Although taking second place at the flag Ross was given a time penalty of 50 seconds relegating him to fourth place.

Sunday morning's race was a reverse grid but with the penalty Ross was on the third row at the back of the TLX cars alongside Toyota driver AJ Lauder who was a non starter on Saturday.

An amazing start saw Ross immediately on the back of Bargwanna and another fierce fight over the lead was on with the two locking horns lap after lap.

Ross never let up on Bargwanna and with each passing lap he kept the pressure on hard searching for opportunities to get his first race win of the season.

With just a two laps remaining he spotted his chance while he and the Toyota driver were negotiating some backmarkers through the hairpin.

Unfortunately it resulted in some light contact between the two with the Australian driver standing his ground and managing to stay ahead of Ross.

But it was in the very last lap of the race and back at the hairpin where Ross took hold of another opportunity. This time making the pass cleanly he pulled away from the Australian to roar his Holden up the hill and over the finish line to claim his first victory of the 2013-14 season.

Already the opening round of the NZV8 Touring Cars had seen excitement worthy of a top motor racing series but with Ross lined up next to Bargwanna for the final race of the weekend all knew there was something very spectacular about to happen.

Ross took the early lead and was on his way but was caught out by Bargwanna going into the Chute where the Australian made a move on the Holden driver.

"I had lost the side mirror and although I knew 'Bargs' was there, somewhere, I couldn't see where and he managed to squeeze past me." said Ross.

Throughout the race the two drivers displayed to all just how evenly matched the pair are and how competitive the cars and the series will be over the NZV8TC 2013-14 season.

With Ross sticking hard on the tail of his opponent for the duration of the final he was just unable to get close enough for a repeat of the morning's race.

The furious battle ended with Ross crossing the line a mere 0.696 of a second after Bargwanna earning a healthy second place but just missing out on the round win by a fraction of a second.

Over the weekend Nick Ross displayed not only that the Concept Motorsport crew has produced a race car with the speed to compete seriously for the title but that he himself has the talent, skills and most of all the hunger to get the job done and secure the trophy by season's end.

"We are really happy with the way the weekend went and the pace of the car. We still have some work to do to stay ahead of Bargwanna but we took the fastest lap of the weekend and a race win and we are happy with that." said Ross.

To wrap up the opening round of the NZV8TC season 2013-14, Nick Ross and the Total Lubricants Holden Commodore claimed the fastest qualification time then pole position after taking the best time in the Top 10 Shootout and also the fastest lap of the weekend with 1.07.056.

He now holds second place in the championship with 196 points to Jason Bargwanna's 217 and third placed Shaun Varney's 175 with five more rounds to run including the V8 Supercars round in April 2014.

The NZV8 Touring Cars are a two class series consisting of the New Generation NZV8 race cars and are open to various manufacturers rather than just Ford and Holden. Currently the faster TLX class hosts three manufacturers including Holden, Ford and Toyota with Nissan set to join the series in the near future.

The TL class is made up of the older Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon race cars built to the NZV8s specifications.

The second round of the NZV8 Touring Cars takes place after the Christmas break when the series heads to the South Island for the first meeting of the new year at Teretonga Park Raceway in Invercargill over the weekend of 11-12 January (full calendar below).

Results NZV8 Touring Cars

Top 10 Shootout
1    Nick Ross        Holden Commodore    1.06.701
2    Jason Bargwanna    Toyota Camry        1.06.849
3    Shaun Varney        Ford Falcon        1.08.992

Race One
TLX - top four
1    Jason Bargwanna    Toyota Camry
2    Shaun Varney        Ford Falcon
3    Lance Hughes        Holden Commodore
4    Nick Ross        Holden Commodore (penalised 50secs)
TL - top three
1    Ian Booth        Holden Commodore
2    James McLaughlin    Holden Commodore
3    Mathew Booth        Holden Commodore

Race Two
TLX - top three
1    Nick Ross        Holden Commodore
2    Jason Bargwanna    Toyota Camry
3    AJ Lauder        Toyota Camry
TL - top three
1    James McLaughlin    Holden Commodore
2    Brad Lauder        Ford Falcon
3    Grant Molloy        Ford Falcon

Race Three
TLX - top three
1    Jason Bargwanna    Toyota Camry
2    Nick Ross        Holden Commodore
3    AJ Lauder        Toyota Camry
TL - top three
1    James McLaughlin    Holden Commodore
2    Ian Booth        Holden Commodore
3    Brock Cooley        Ford Falcon

NZV8s Touring Cars Calendar

Rd 1       Pukekohe Park (Thunder in the Park)                     16-17 November 2013
Rd 2       Teretonga Park, Invercargill                                 11-12 January 2014
Rd 3       Timaru International Motor Raceway                      18-19 January 2014
Rd 4       Manfeild, Feilding (NZ Grand Prix)                          08-09 February 2014
Rd 5       Taupo Motorsport Park                                        08-09 March 2014
Rd 6       Pukekohe Park (V8 Supercars)                              25-27 April 2014 (ANZAC Weekend)

ENDS

© Scoop Media