Andrew Fawcett and Daniel Gaunt won the battle at Levels, whilst Jonny Reid and Sam Fillmore won the war to claim the 2022 South Island Endurance Series 3 Hour title.
The win for Fawcett and Gaunt, in a McLaren 720S GT3, was well deserved, the duo having to battle back after difficulties at the start which saw them drop as far back as sixth.
They managed to do so through an undercut executed to perfection in the final hour, pitting Gaunt well before Reid took his stop.
With much fresher tyres, Reid challenged and clawed back a seven second difference and looked set to snatch the victory, which would have been their third in a row.
Instead, a crash for the McLaren 650S, being driven by John McVeth, brought an early conclusion to the race. This gave Fawcett and Gaunt their first win of the campaign, a strong return after two agonisingly-close second place finishes.
Second place for Reid and Fillmore, however, was enough for them to claim the 2022 South Island Endurance Series 3 Hour title by just 5 points.
Third place at Levels was claimed by Paul and Ant Pedersen, a commanding drive seeing the duo overcome two drive-through penalties for the podium.
In Class 2, Heremana Malmezac and Jono Lester took out the title, their car able to make the start after damage in the earlier Class 2 & 3 One Hour. They finished fifth overall at Levels.
The Wolfbrook Porsche, of Steve Brooks and Bill Riding, were not so lucky, unable to race the 3 Hour to compete for the Class 2 title in which they trailed by only 10 points.
The Class 3 title was taken out comfortably by the Porsche 718 Clubsport GT4 of Marco Giltrap and Simon Evans.
Class 4 honours went down to the wire between the VW Golf GTi TCR of Grant and Cole Askew and the Audi R8 2.0T of Barry Moore and James Paterson. Coming into the race level on points, the higher placed car would be awarded the title.
Overcoming an early spin, it was the Audi to take out the class, finishing eighth ahead of the VW in ninth.
Class 5 was also a tight one heading into the event, Grant and Matt Moore taking the title with 11th at Levels, the result also good enough to boost them to second overall in the AM/AM title. It also saw them finish eighth overall in a homebuilt car.
The Michelin AM Cup was there for the taking for Glenn Smith and DeVeth, until their accident with 12 minutes remaining saw the award go to Hayden Knighton and Kane Lawson.
Lawson and Knighton had been running fourth most of the race and looked set for that title, the DeVeth impact all but securing it. Both cars had been level on points heading into the event.
Finally, the 2022 Rookie Cup was claimed by Ant and Paul Pedersen.
Race Report
Fillmore was the better of the starters, a great jump seeing him take the lead through Lap 1. In contrast, Fawcett ended up going backwards, becoming stuck in the pack and making slight contact with others to drop to sixth.
Glenn Smith was another with a clean getaway, moving up to second and within range of Fillmore. Jono Lester also moved forward, the Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup not showing any signs of their impact in the earlier Class 2 & 3 One Hour.
Despite the nudges, it was a relatively clean start, the only incident of note being a spin for James Paterson at the first series of corners.
A rhythm immediately set in, Smith taking the lead on Lap 2 before Fillmore regained it 10 minutes in. Lester managed to pass Smith for second just five minutes later, then went about hunting down the leader.
Lester caught Fillmore in the latter part of the first hour, however was unable to manage an overtake through lapped traffic and excellent defence from the leader.
Meanwhile, the battle for fourth had also established, the two Mercedes AMG GT3s of Paul Pedersen and Hayden Knighton fighting among themselves before being caught by Fawcett. The McLaren managed a pass on Knighton 38 minutes in, before picking off Pedersen 15 minutes later.
Around the same time, lapped traffic also came into play as the trio caught Smith, all three managing to pass to put Smith down to sixth.
After the first hour of running it was still Fillmore out front leading Lester, Fawcett sitting in third ahead of Pedersen, Knighton and Smith respectively.
Not long after this, Lester came in for his first stop, a double stint in order because of the smaller fuel tank in the Porsche. They returned to the track in seventh, just behind the Porsche of Francois Beziac and Tom Alexander.
Unfortunately, a pit lane infringement resulted in a drive through for Lester.
Further drama came down the pit straight 70 minutes in, Pedersen attempting to lap the #417 Honda CRX of Ben Silcock and getting forced slightly wide onto the grass. Getting squirrelly off track, the Mercedes rejoined to make side-on contact with the Honda.
The result saw Silcock spin into the outside barrier, the front bumper stripped from the car. Miraculously, Smith coming through did well to avoid the stricken Honda, Silcock managing to drive off under his own power, the damage appearing cosmetic.
A safety car was required, however, to remove debris, the intervention short but timely, in the pit window allowing for driver changes and re-fueling for the field.
Ant Pedersen took over in the #33 Mercedes to return to the track with the lead, ahead of Kane Lawson (Knighton) and Reid (Fillmore). Gaunt ran fourth ahead of Lester, John DeVeth (Smith) retaining sixth.
Unfortunately for Pedersen, a drive-through was awarded for the contact with the #417. Once this was served, they returned to the circuit in fourth, Reid taking the lead over Gaunt, the pair having both made it past Lawson. Knighton also made it past Lawson almost immediately after serving the penalty.
The battle for the lead was now a two car battle, Reid with a 7 second lead at the race mid-point.
Gaunt went about reducing this, using lapped traffic to his advantage, reducing it over the next 30 minutes to trail by one second with only one hour remaining.
Gaunt was the first to budge for his final stop, coming in with 55 minutes remaining. Reid, contrasting this, risked an undercut by remaining on track.
DeVeth, who had been running fifth, was awarded a drive-through penalty in the last hour for passing under yellows. Pedersen also copped their second drive through of the day for the same offence.
With 45 minutes remaining the order returned, Reid up front with one stop still to make. Gaunt was back to second, Pedersen keeping third even after the penalty. Knighton was running a clean race to keep fourth while DeVeth remained ahead of Malmezac (Lester) in fifth.
Reid finally came into pit with 35 minutes remaining, a 32 second stop not enough to hold off Gaunt’s undercut, the McLaren coming through to take the lead, five seconds the gap between the two.
The gap extended out to about seven seconds, Reid beginning to punch in some solid lap times to reduce this.
With 15 minutes remaining, the duo ran within half a second of each other, providing yet another thrilling conclusion to a 2022 South Island Endurance Series race.
Reid tried to stick his nose down the inside on several occasions, the defence of Gaunt superb in holding off the challenge.
DeVeth, at this point, ran his McLaren into a wall at speed, the damage extensive. This brought about a late safety car, the race not able to resume and Gaunt holding on for the win over Reid.
The Pedersen’s, despite two penalties in the race, drove superbly for a well-deserved P3, Knighton and Lawson also with a strong fourth. DeVeth not finishing promoted Lester and Malmezac to fifth, whilst Beziac and Alexander came home in sixth.
