John McIntyre Racing celebrates a season of firsts while preparing for Timaru NZ V8s
As the John McIntyre Racing team heads for the popular South Canterbury motor racing circuit outside Timaru for the next round of the BNT V8s Championship, they are quietly giving themselves a pat on the back for what they have already achieved this season.
“As the other champions in this competitive class know, you need consistently excellent results to win,” says John McIntyre, the two-time NZ V8 champion based in Nelson.
“I think we can take a moment to celebrate what we have already achieved this season – five wins from nine races and three consecutive pole positions at three rounds, something we think hasn’t been done before in this class. There’s no doubt that this series is aggressively contested and you have to get everything as close to perfect as possible to do well. It’s certainly not easy to pull off results like these.”
McIntyre notes that last weekend’s second race victory at Teretonga was also the team’s 25th win and the 46th win for him as a driver in this class.
“It’s the first time we’ve won a round at Invercargill, and also at Ruapuna back in November. And it’s the first time we’ve won two rounds consecutively.
“So, looking at the statistics, we can be justly proud of our achievements and I acknowledge every one of our team members and all our supporters in helping us get to where we are today – at the top of the 2009-10 leader-board going into round four in Timaru.
“I have no doubt there will be intense competition as others try and outdo us at Timaru – that’s what this competition is about and, hey, we’re all racing drivers and we love a good battle on the track.
“But we’ve done well at Timaru these past three seasons with our JMR team. We’ve won the round twice and were third last year, and with our current form, we’ll be doing our utmost to extend our lead in the championship even further by Sunday afternoon,” says the quietly-confident and well-prepared 32-year-old.
The Timaru schedule sees JMR and the Castrol Edge Ford hit the tight, 2.4 km Timaru circuit for their first test session at 9:45am on Saturday 23 January. A second test session takes place at 2:00pm before the three-part qualifying session which starts at 3:55pm. Sunday’s races in Timaru are at 10:00am, 12:55pm and 4:05pm.
The team at John McIntyre Racing extends their thanks to Talley's, Castrol Edge, Protector Safety, Ford NZ, The Rock FM, Ideal Electrical, Websters Hydrated Lime, Avon City Ford, BP Ultimate, Dynamic Fluid Systems, Speedshow, Prime Explosives , Cookes Wirerope, Colorfast Signs, City Collision Repair Napier, and others for supporting their bid to win a third New Zealand V8 Championship title.
