Tauranga racing driver Richie Stanaway has put the disappointment of his recent Macau Grand Prix startline accident immediately behind him and topped the first day of a Formula Renault 3.5 official test in Spain.
Stanaway, who turned 20 last week, made his debut in a Formula Renault 3.5 car as one of 24 drivers taking part in the test at the Motorland Aragon track.
He was fastest in the Monday morning session ahead of Dutch driver Robin Frijns and improved by a further 0.4secs in the afternoon session to top the session results ahead of young Russian Daniel Kvyat.
The 3.5-litre V6 engined FR3.5 car is the most powerful single-seater Stanaway has driven in his career to date with about 480bhp.
His first-day test performance reinforces his reputation for immediately showing pace when stepping into a new car for the first time.
Stanaway was continuing testing in the Formula Renault 3.5 car with Gravity Charouz racing yesterday and today before moving to the Jerez circuit tomorrow and Friday for more testing in a GP3 Series car with Marussia Manor Motorsport.
Gravity Sport, the company which manages Stanaway's career, is expected to place him with either a Formula Renault 3.5 or GP3 Series team for 2012.
Armstrong leads
Nissan Skyline driver Cole Armstrong (Tauranga) is the points leader in the D1NZ Drifting Championship after a runner-up finish in the second round at Pukekohe on Saturday.
Armstrong, in his newly-built V Energy R34 Skyline four-door, finished fourth at the opening round of D1NZ at Manfeild in October and with his second at Pukekohe is now 12 points ahead of "Mad Mike" Whiddett (Mazda RX-7) in the national series.
After qualifying second at Pukekohe, Armstrong advanced past Randal Luipihi (Nissan Silvia S15), Daynom Templeman (Mazda RX7) and defending D1NZ champion Gaz Whiter (Nissan Silvia S14) during eliminations to meet good friend Curt Whittaker, driving a Nissan Skyline R34 coupe with a Toyota 2J engine, in the final.
After the first two battles, the judges found it too close to call so a re-run was asked for. Once again these were extremely close encounters before Whittaker narrowly claimed the victory.
Drifting at Pukekohe requires drivers to enter the front straight sweeper at about 190km/h and Friday's early runs saw Armstrong battling with a shortage of wheel speed and an abundance of traction.
Adjustments to the front sway bar, rear ride height and shock tension gave him the response he wanted.
The result - driving a car that was built in eight weeks and had only one test day before the season began - shows Armstrong has both driving talent and the ability to set a car up and drive it to the conditions on the day.
Round three of the D1NZ Series is at Taupo on December 16-17.
D1NZ standings - after round 2 of 6:
1 Cole Armstrong (Tauranga) 179 points; 2 Mike Whiddett (Auckland) 167; 3 Curt Whittaker (Auckland) 162; 4 Darren Benjamin (Taranaki) 154; 5 Daniel Woolhouse (Whangarei) 153; 6 Gaz Whiter (Dargaville) 133.
Wood spins out
An early race crash put Tauranga's Rodney Wood out of the running at the international sprint car event at Auckland's Western Springs Speedway on Saturday night.
Wood made a strong start to the evening and was the second highest Kiwi qualifier in a field that included US stars Donny Schatz, Sammy Swindell, Jonathan Allard and Peter Murphy.
"We were quick but a couple of little mistakes probably cost a good result," said Wood.
The highlight of Wood's night was the opening heat race when he duelled with US star Donny Schatz, regarded as the best winged sprint car driver in the world.
"I led for about nine and three-quarter laps but he passed me coming off the last corner," said Wood. "I'd made a little mistake the corner before and that let him get underneath me."
Wood moved up from grid 14 to sixth in his second heat and rank fifth on qualifying points.
He was beaten by Swindell in the pole shuffle match-up which left him sixth on the grid and the second highest Kiwi behind Aucklander Jamie McDonald who claimed pole position for the 30-lapper.
"I started from grid six in the feature and there was a yellow about four laps into it," said Wood.
"I wasn't ready for the restart and when it went green I got a bit flustered and slapped the wall coming off turn two."
A damaged front axle and rear suspension mounting put Wood out of the race.
Emerson grabs third
The first round of the touring SSCAR for super saloons was raced at Upper Hutt's Te Marua Speedway on Saturday night with Mt Maunganui racer Brent Emerson taking third place behind Aucklander Ben Harding and Napier racer Grant Flynn.
With his car rebuilt after his big Baypark crash earlier this month, Auckland's Craig Cardwell was fourth ahead of Tauranga's Dean Waddell and Nelson racer Ian Burson with young Tauranga driver Kristin Vermeulen taking seventh place.
Round two of the series sees the super saloons make a rare appearance at Rotorua's Paradise Valley Raceway on Saturday, December 10.
This weekend a field of about 50 stocks cars is expected for the Harry Fredrickson Memorial Gold Cup at Baypark Speedway.
With Baypark having 23 registered stock cars this season the local drivers could be outnumbered by visitors, mainly from Rotorua.
The format for the event will be set when the field is finalised.
Hay's hopes blown
The only Tauranga drag racer in action at the Prestone Spring Nationals at Meremere on Sunday was supercharged '27 T roadster racer Karen Hay.
The day began well with Hay running back-to-back six-second qualifying passes straight off the trailer but a blown oil seal on the supercharger drive in the first round of racing ended the day. Hay's qualifying time was 6.989s with a 191.65mp/h terminal speed.
Hay set the national record in the BB/Altered class last season with a 6.834s pass at 198.88mph and her early-season runs with the car running a new camshaft show her potential.
The highlight was the Top Alcohol final when the A/Fuel nitro dragster of Auckland's Anthony Marsh ran 5.62s to edge Pukekohe racer Chris Johnston at 5.73s, a race believed to be the quickest side-by-side ever seen in New Zealand.
This weekend there is racing under the NZ Drag Racing Association banner at the upgraded Tokoroa airfield dragstrip where the Tauranga-based front engine dragster of Paul Sattler and supercharged altered of Ian Metz are among the entries.