Teretonga braces itself for big bangers

The big banger BNT V8’s and the Castrol Toyota Racing Series headline the action at Teretonga Park this weekend when the Speedworks Events Motorsport NZ Championship meeting comes to the country’s southernmost race circuit.

Southlanders love their motorsport and the BNT V8’s have long been a big favourite at Teretonga Park.

While the kiwis fought out the Supercar Championship across the ditch last year the Australians are retaliating by having a red hot go at our BNT V8's Championship.

Australians Jack Smith (Holden Commodore) and Brenton Grove (Toyota Camry) arrive from strong performances at the previous round and Smith is leading the championship.

Variety is the spice of life in the category these days with the Commodore and Camry having competition from the Ford Falcon and Nissan Altima in the class. 

In the Castrol Toyota Racing Series drivers come from some of the most competitive series around the globe as they look to further their careers with countries as diverse as Japan, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Russia, England, the US, the UK, Romania and Australia represented on this year’s grid.

However  the three kiwi drivers on the grid – Southlander Brendon Leitch, Ferrari Academy driver Marcus Armstrong and early championship leader Liam Lawson all have their own international experience and successes and will be hard for the internationals to beat.

Best of the international contingent looks likely to be Lucas Auer of Austria, a nephew of former Formula 1 star, Gerhard Berger.

Auer has been a factory Mercedes driver in the DTM Series in Europe for the past few seasons.

Raoul Hyman, a South African domiciled in the UK, is the current Asian Formula 3 Champion and started the series well last weekend.