Sam Collins has claimed a three-peat of victories in the South Island Endurance Series Class 2 & 3 One Hour after winning the final round at Levels Raceway this weekend. Collins has looked almost untouchable in his Ford Marc Mustang, the pure power and straight-line speed creating a force to be reckoned with throughout the weekend.
Victory this weekend for Collins, however, wasn’t without its share of controversy, the number #666 involved in an early incident with the leading Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup MR of Heremana Malmezac.
It wasn’t until post-race when the incident was reviewed, Collins retaining the victory over the Porsche 991 Cup of Ben Byers.
Byers ran a strong race from fourth on the grid, avoiding the unfolding drama surrounding him for a clean run and a well deserved podium.
The Wolfbrook Porsche 992 Cup of Steve Brooks and Bill Riding was classified third. They were, however, involved in a nasty incident with the Ginetta G55 GT4 of Steve Scoles in the closing stages of the event. That crash, at speed, saw both cars seriously damaged, thankfully both drivers emerging unharmed.
It was Malmezac who had started on pole for the race, an impressive 59.56sec qualifying time seeing him eclipse Ronan Murphy to take prime position from the start. Starting third, Collins quickly picked off Murphy on the back straight on Lap 1 before challenging for the lead.
Excellent defence over the opening five minutes saw Malmezac retain top spot. Things became unstuck, however, when Collins went to move up the inside approaching the end of the rear straight. In an attempt to squeeze, the slightest of contacts was made between the pair, The front of Collins’ Mustang nudging the left rear of the Porsche.
Malmezac got slightly into the grass to the left, spinning to the right and back across the track and sliding rear-first into the tyres. Although the contact was at speed, major damage seemed to have been avoided. Impressively so, the car was repaired to make the start of the 3 Hour race just under two hours later.
The safety car period, of around five minutes, saw Murphy immediately box from the lead almost as soon as the window opened. Collins took the lead here, and never looked back.
Re-emerging from the lane in 16th, Murphy was out of luck several laps later, a front left puncture requiring a second stop for a change.
A safety car after 25 minutes worked in his favour, however, the field bunching up and bringing the gaps down. Collins had led significantly until the intervention was caused by the stranded Porschevy V8 of A McFarlane and M Bushell. That Porsche had stalled, a tow back to the lane for a jump required.
Terminal damage for the Porsche 997 Cup S driven by Allan Dippie also brought about his retirement at this stage.
With yet another restart underway with just 27 minutes remaining on the clock, Collins began to pull away once again. The battle for second was a lot closer, Byers, Jordan Michels and Glen Brazier jostling for position. Riding also got in on the action, moving up to third not long after.
The rhythm finally came about for the mid-stages of the event until yet another intervention was required with nine minutes to go. Mcfarlane and Bushell were in the wars again, this time contact with Steve Sullivan seeing them stranded on the Turn 1 in-field and require another tow back to the lane.
As has been the trend in 2022, a five minute sprint to the line came about following the restart. Only one lap was fully completed, however, when Riding and Scoles came into contact on the pit straight.
The paid, side-by-side and at speed, had an unfortunate interlock which saw both cars spin off to the inside. Riding was the first to make contact with the wall, hitting the barriers front-first before continuing to slide down the in-field.
Scoles was even more unlucky, sliding for a distance before making rear-first contact with a tyre barrier, the car rebounding and spinning for another hit on the rear the next barrier.
Both cars were severely damaged, Riding and Brooks unable to join the following 3 Hour race because of the damage. In contrast, the Ginetta resembled a shell of the car it had been moments earlier, a huge repair job required to get it track-worthy for its next run.
The red flag was brought out immediately, the race called with only three minutes remaining. This meant Collins kept his position for the win, despite the post-race investigation, whilst Byers retained second.
The saving grace for Brooks and Riding was the incident had taken them over the start-finish line. This meant that their third place was retained as the red flag meant that was the final lap of the event.
Meanwhile, back in the pack, Murphy had been hampered by the interventions and his earlier puncture, only able to climb back to finish 12th.
Murphy’s misfortunes were the benefactor for Collins, who claimed victory in both of the previous rounds, both at Ruapuna and at Teretonga before the win in Timaru.
This gave the 2022 Class 2 & 3 One Hour title to Collins in his Class 2 Mustang.
Class 3 was taken out by Grant and Ben Williams at Levels in a Toyota GT86 V8, their seventh place overall enough to take out the overall Class 3 title, previous leader Nigel Cromie not taking part in the event.
