Motorsport: Booth puts Holden on pole at Taupo

Andy Booth driving his Holden. Photo / The MotorSport Company/SportProMedia

Two-time champion Andy Booth has snatched pole position for tomorrow's first of three New Zealand V8s championship races.

Booth saved his best for last when he set a blistering time of one minute 35.668 seconds in his Holden on the re-jigged Taupo motorsport park circuit in the third and final qualifying session to edge out the Fords of Kayne Scott and John McIntyre.

Defending champion McIntyre, who leads the championship, set a fastest time of 1min 36.576sec in the second session while Scott, another former champion, set the fastest time of 1min 36.643sec in the second session.

Completing the top 10 on the grid are Paul Manuell, Paul Pedersen, Tim Edgell, Paul Radisich, Dean Perkins, Mark Pedersen and Andrew Fawcet.

Booth was delighted to feel competitive again.

"The big test will be to see if the car is that quick over the whole race distance, but we've done a lot of work since the previous round in Christchurch.

"A couple of worthwhile test days here at Taupo with one of the Tasman Motorsport engineers have really paid off."

Conditions for qualifying at the Taupo Motorsport Park were hot and windy, and with the changes to the sequence of corners after the nearly 850-metre long main straight, the competitive V8 drivers will have to look after their tyres and brakes even more than normal.

The New Zealand V8s have one 14-lap race tomorrow and again on Sunday. They wrap up the A1GP meeting with the last race on the card, a 22-lap reverse grid race on Sunday evening.

Official top 10 NZV8 qualifying results: Andy Booth (Auckland, Holden Commodore VZ) 1min 35.668sec 1, Kayne Scott (Hamilton, Ford Falcon BA) 1:35.934 2, John McIntyre (Nelson, Ford Falcon BA) 1:36.165 3, Paul Manuell (Auckland, Holden Commodore VZ) 1:36.381 4, Paul Pedersen (Rotorua, Ford Falcon BA) 1:36.660 5, Tim Edgell, (Auckland, Ford Falcon BA) 1:36.861 6, Paul Radisich (Melbourne, Ford Falcon BA) 1:37.250 7, Dean Perkins, Pukekohe, Ford Falcon BA, 1:37.285 8, Mark Pedersen (Auckland, Ford Falcon BA) 1:37.548 9, Andrew Fawcet (Wellington, Ford Falcon BA) 1:37.588 10.

- NZPA