By Staff Reporter
Whanganui-born driver Matt Gibson is aiming to be right up the front at this weekend's fifth round of the popular amateur sports ute Ssangyong Racing Series at Manfeild Park.
A former Toyota TR86 and V8 Ute series competitor, Gibson had initially planned to have the season away from racing due to a lack of funding.
However, he got offered the drive of a Ssangyong ute in November for the second round of the series, which was a support race to the ITM 500 for V8 Supercars at Pukekohe.
The Gibson team have taken the ute on for the rest of the series for owner Andrew Wright of Wright Tanks.
"I had decided I was going to take a year off motorsport, save some money and concentrate on my business of driver coaching," said Gibson.
"But basically two weeks out from the Pukekohe round it was confirmed I would be running a Ssangyong ute in the racing series.
"I wasn't very keen at first but I completed a test day at the Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park in Taupo, set the quickest lap of the day and realised how much fun they were."
He said the trucks are nothing like anything he has driven before.
"The trick is to get the power down without any wheel spin, but to learn that takes time.