Top V8 team in form for Taupo

Wellington's only V8 SuperTourer team - M2 Motorsport - is ready for action at the Father's Day 400 at Taupo.

The team's top driver, Simon McLennan, is revved up to take on the country's best in the endurance rounds of the category's first full season in Taupo on August 31 to September 2.

Building of their Holden Commodore V8 SuperTourer car - at the barn next to the family home - is progressing well under the guidance of father Colin McLennan and the team is well advanced in extending the M2 Motorsport team originally set up to run cars in the BMW Mini Challenge.

Several mechanics from the team's Porsche campaigns will be retained, and new recruits are also coming on board.

McLennan is an acknowledged top performer in the globally used GT3 Porsche 996 and 997 Cup cars, and on a recent trip to Mt Panorama in Scott O'Donnell's 997 GT3 Cup car he finished fifth overall and second in GTB, beaten only by Steve Johnson, Steve Richards and Nathan Tinkler.

He also won the Pukekohe 6 Hour race in the 996 GT3 Cup car with Craig Innes, and has competed in two Bathurst 12 Hour events.

He hopes to be able to transfer many of the skills learned in endurance racing and the Porsche series into the V8 SuperTourer car but admits it's a significant challenge joining the championship with most teams already established and fine-tuning their set-ups.

"I hope the Porsche experiences do help though I've never driven a V8 and never driven a race car that's a right-hand drive either," said McLennan.

"I do enjoy longer-style races so will be happy whether that's longer sprint distances or endurance events.

"I find the endurance events really bring the team together and I think that's important in racing.

"The sprint races in V8ST are a step up in race length from what I'm used to so I'm looking forward to that too.

"Both the team and I are more pumped than we've ever been prior to joining a racing series and we're itching to get out there and be part of it all."

Rotorua driver Ant Pedersen, continues to hold a top-10 placing in the competition, sitting in sixth spot with 1468 overall points behind competition leader John McIntyre (2021), teammate Jonny Reid (2019) and Greg Murphy (1742).

Top 10: 1 John McIntyre 2021; 2 Jonny Reid 2019; 3 Greg Murphy 1742; 4 Andy Booth 1651; 5 Kayne Scott 1498; 6 Ant Pedersen 1468; 7 Scott McLaughlin 1375; 8 Andy Knight 1277; 9 Craig Baird 1259; 10 Steven Richards 1226.