The first of the V8 SuperTourer enduro races - the Father's Day 400 at Taupo sees a high quality field lining up for the first race tomorrow.
With a mouth-watering list including both rising and established V8 stars and a selection of single seater racers with experience right up to Formula One and Indycar. Some of New Zealand's best domestic series racers have also made the final list.
Christian Klien - former Jaguar, Red Bull, BMW and Hispania F1 race and test driver - heads the stars from single seaters. He has vast experience in Le Mans prototypes to back that up and will pair with Russell Ingall at Bathurst this year. Klien will drive with Geoff Emery in the second Supercheap Auto Holden Commodore.
Also lined up is Indycar racer and former two-time Indy Lights Champion Wade Cunningham. Matt Halliday - teamed with Rotorua's Ant Pedersen at International Motorsport - is another with extensive experience including Cart single seaters and A1GP. Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen - who raced extensively and successfully for Team Holland in A1GP and twice European Porsche Cup champion joins ex-pat Colin Corkery in the Koba Batteries Ford Falcon V8ST.
New Zealand's youngest Formula Ford champion and V8ST regular Andre Heimgartner is in the field with the vastly experienced Paul Morris, and series title challenger and Black Beauty ace Jonny Reid, who is teamed up with Cunningham. Several of the other drivers also have international single seater experience, including double Toyota Race Series champion Daniel Gaunt in the Tasman car, current NZ V8 Ute champion Andrew Waite, and last year's Toyota Race Series champion Nick Cassidy, teamed with Jack Perkins in the iconic Number 51 Mike Pero M3 Racing Holden Commodore.
Big names from Aussie and New Zealand V8s include Craig Baird, Bathurst winner Steven Richards, John McIntyre, Kayne Scott, Andy Booth, Tony D'Alberto, Jono Webb, Angus Fogg and up and coming Kiwi ace Scott McLaughlin, who dominated the last V8 SuperTourer race meeting at Hampton Downs in the lead MPC Supercheap Auto Holden Commodore. About 16 drivers in the field will be expected to be on duty at Bathurst in a few weeks. The event - which features 40 drivers in 20 V8 SuperTourer Holden and Ford machines - will open with a unique qualifying format and back-to-back races on Sunday, both featuring compulsory driver changes.
Testing tomorrow morning will comprise two one-hour sessions. In the first session either regular driver or the co-driver may drive the car, however, in the second session only the co-driver is permitted out on track. In the afternoon two qualifying sessions - one for each driver - will be run with a short 20 minute break in between. Each driver must complete a qualifying session and times set by each will denote the team's starting position for the two races on Sunday. In the races themselves, each driver must start a race before a compulsory driver swap between laps 30 and 40 occurs. Both races will be in excess of 200km.