Aucklander Matt Gibson showed good pace in his Lighting Plus TR86 over the weekend at the NZ Motorcup at Hampton Downs, but was unfortunate to miss out on a podium finish.
The Wanganui-born driver was looking forward to putting his car on the podium at the weekend, but a slight misjudgment in qualifying meant Gibson and his team were only good enough for seventh.
"At the time of coming into the pits to adjust our tyre pressures we were in third, but by the time we had finished our pressures there weren't enough laps to put in a good time and we dropped to seventh, we should have pitted earlier," Gibson said.
Gibson started well in race one on Saturday and was soon into fifth by turn two. Gibson fought for fourth while also having to keep an eye behind him for the fast approaching Neil Allport Motorsports car driven by former F1 star David Oxton's son Richard. Gibson finished in fifth after an attempt to pass the cars ahead. He missed out on the chance at the finish line by a tenth of a second. The temperature at Hampton Downs was reaching 30C on the Saturday and the in-car temperature was more than 50C.
Sunday brought more hot weather and a real hot and grippy track. Gibson started off in grid position five and once again nailed the start and held his position into turn one.