Motorsport: Plenty of reasons for Kiwis to be happy

Scott McLaughlin celebrates after winning race 15 for the Ipswich SuperSprint. Photo / Getty Images

One bad weekend and the fight at the front of the Supercars field will be back on.

Scott McLaughlin is dominating the championship at the moment and has a very handy 109 point lead over Jamie Whincup at the top of the standings. There is another 100 points or more back to Fabian Coulthard and Shane van Gisbergen.

If you looking at how everyone's season has gone so far you would absolutely expect McLaughlin to have a bad weekend at some point but we also have to remember that he did have a couple of races like that earlier in the season where he gave away some points.

He had that drive through penalty at Phillip Island and there were a couple of moments where he lost some points.

But since then it has been an absolute thrashing of everyone else as he's moved forward to take the championship and now he's extending it. He is on such a run that you think it is only going to be good from here but that is not the way it usually plays out. There will be something at some stage that will mean he will need to rally and find the rhythm again.

At the moment he isn't doing anything wrong. It is impressive to watch. The team is supporting him well - he has this relationship with Ludo Lacroix that is just strengthening and the resources the outfit is providing is everything he needs to do the job.

The numbers are just staggering - new benchmarks in qualifying. I think we will see a new record set for pole positions this year. His race performance has been almost as good too.

It is great for New Zealand motorsport that McLaughlin is doing so well across the ditch but Kiwi fans have a big reason to be happy on this side of the Tasman with news Hampton Downs will host a round of a new Asia Pacific 12 Hour GT series next year along with Bathurst and Sepang.

It is massive. It will be a huge international event. It is going to bring a huge amount of international talent and teams to race in New Zealand.

The 12 Hour at Bathurst has been going from strength to strength to now become a world renowned event. To be able to tag onto that as part of series and to come down to New Zealand I think we are in for an exciting event that will be very popular.

I've already been asked if I would be keen to race and I probably would be. It would be hard to ignore. I love the endurance stuff - I have done a few before and enjoyed them so I would definitely be putting my hand up.