Motorsport: McIntyre takes on stars at Gold Coast 600

John McIntyre will team up with Shane van Gisbergen in the SP Tools Falcon this weekend. Photo / Getty Images

Top New Zealand driver John McIntyre will line up beside beside former Formula 1, Indy Car and British Touring Car champions at this weekend's Gold Coast 600 V8 Supercar event.

The two-time New Zealand V8 champion will again partner fellow-Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen in a Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) Ford.

Each team must include an international co-driver in one of their cars for this third endurance race of the Australian V8 Supercar season.

McIntyre and van Gisbergen are the only all-New Zealand pairing with SBR opting to keep the duo together after the recent Phillip Island and Bathurst endurance races.

Other teams have lined up co-drivers such as US-based New Zealander Scott Dixon, 1997 Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve and Dario Franchitti, Dixon's Indy Car team-mate and fellow former winner of the ultra-competitive North American Indy Car title.

McIntyre, from Nelson, is excited to tackle the concrete-lined, ocean front Gold Coast street circuit again.

"It's great to be paired with Shane for our third event this season. We've got stronger and stronger as a driver pairing despite not getting the results we hoped for - and felt we deserved - at Phillip Island and Bathurst.

"We're more determined than ever. We have been close to some good results and are looking for a little luck to go our way this time. This is a great opportunity for the team and our combination to do well.

"Not only have I co-driven with Shane in this car before, I raced on this circuit in 2004 with WPS. While there is a different track configuration this year, I do have valuable experience on the track, with my co-driver, with the car and with the team that the other international co-drivers do not."

The weekend's schedule sees four practice sessions on Friday with McIntyre keen to make the most of the one 30-minute session specifically for co-drivers as he fine-tunes his own performance.

Saturday sees the lead drivers head straight into qualifying, before the top 10 shootout decides the final starting positions for the afternoon's 300km race. Sunday's schedule follows a similar structure.

McIntyre notes that each co-driver is required to complete 30 per cent of each of the two races.

"So I've got two bites at the cherry this weekend which I'm looking forward to immensely."

- NZPA