Tim Edgell has won the Racer Products V8s title following the final and fourth round of the series at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park in Taupo today.
Edgell started the weekend with a win in the first qualifying race on Saturday, before an incident in the second race saw him finish down the order. Sam Collins in his MARC Mustang taking the victory in qualifying race two.
Starting from the front row alongside the Nissan Altima of Nick Ross, Edgell in his Holden V8 SuperTourer quickly took the lead of the 40-minute feature race this afternoon.
Collins in his MARC Mustang slotted into second place at the start of lap two ahead of Ross, with the Holden of Brady Wild behind, followed by another Holden of Rob Wallace.
When the pit stop window opened, cars began dropping off to undertake their compulsory pit stop with Edgell and Wallace the first to stop.
Brady Wild pitted on lap 11, handing over to co-driver Simon Evans.
The rest of the competitors followed accordingly, and by the time everyone had pitted, Evans had assumed the lead of the race and started setting the fastest times of the race.
From there, for the remaining laps it was largely a processional affair with Evans crossing the line in the lead, followed by Edgell and Collins.
However, after the race, it was found that a number of competitors including Evans and Collins had exceeded their lap break out times, and so penalties were applied.
This changed the podium finishing order to see Tim Edgell take the win, with Nick Ross in second and Sam Collins third.
Rob Wallace was fourth, Wild & Evans fifth, with Karl Rastrick in sixth.
Eric Hennephof in his Holden was seventh, followed by Todd Murphy in his Hyundai V8 SuperTourer.
Taupo Round Winners. L-R Sam Collins third, Tim Edgell second, Nick Ross first.
That saw Nick Ross take the overall win for the weekend, Edgell second and Collins third.
With Edgell winning the overall Racer Products V8s title, Rob Wallace finished second, Nick Ross third, Sam Collins fourth with Brady Wild/Simon events in fifth.
For Edgell, the series win was his first since winning the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship.
“My last title win was a fair while ago! Formula Ford in the 2003/2004 season,” said Edgell.
“We got second in the NZV8s a couple of times and were in the top four-six a few times also.”
“The win here feels pretty good. To run our own car, it’s run like a Swiss watch the whole way. We’re a small family team, with some great sponsors onboard, many of which have been with us for a long time.”
“We’ll celebrate this win together.”
The win for the weekend didn’t come easily, with Edgell striking some dramas on Saturday afternoon, his team having to repair the car to have ready for racing today.
“Yesterday we had bit of a shocker. First race was great, we won that 12 seconds.”
Tim Edgell has won the feature race at Taupo and clinched the Racer Products V8s title.
“Second race I was coming through and was trying to be safe, which was probably the wrong thing to do. Trying to pace one car for second place, and got on the dirt and had blown onto the track which sent my car to the grass and unfortunately took out the two guys that were first and second and did a fair bit of damage to my car in the process.”
“I’ve really enjoyed this new format for the series. I think it’s been great, I think the camaraderie between the drivers has been the best I’ve experienced in my racing years.”
“This feature handicap race, if you can do your lap time, every lap, you have every chance of winning the race.”