Gibson misses out on podium finish

An untimely pit stop for tyre pressure dropped Matt Gibson back to seventh at Hampton Downs at the weekend. Photo/Supplied

Aucklander Matt Gibson showed good pace in his Lighting Plus TR86 over the weekend at the NZ Motorcup at Hampton Downs, but was unfortunate to miss out on a podium finish.

The Wanganui-born driver was looking forward to putting his car on the podium at the weekend, but a slight misjudgment in qualifying meant Gibson and his team were only good enough for seventh.

"At the time of coming into the pits to adjust our tyre pressures we were in third, but by the time we had finished our pressures there weren't enough laps to put in a good time and we dropped to seventh, we should have pitted earlier," Gibson said.

Gibson started well in race one on Saturday and was soon into fifth by turn two. Gibson fought for fourth while also having to keep an eye behind him for the fast approaching Neil Allport Motorsports car driven by former F1 star David Oxton's son Richard. Gibson finished in fifth after an attempt to pass the cars ahead. He missed out on the chance at the finish line by a tenth of a second. The temperature at Hampton Downs was reaching 30C on the Saturday and the in-car temperature was more than 50C.

Sunday brought more hot weather and a real hot and grippy track. Gibson started off in grid position five and once again nailed the start and held his position into turn one.

The racing was hard and fast and with many attempts at moving forward through the field Gibson had to settle for fifth. But he was soon given fourth position due to the Telecom car jumping the start.

"We have really good car pace but with the cars being so close in speed and lap times, it is hard to move forward. One little mistake in these cars and you will soon drop back a few positions," Gibson said after Sunday morning's race.

Sunday afternoon's race was raced in extreme temperatures with the track temperature reaching 40C. Gibson, because of his qualifying times, started seventh.

"We are happy as a team with our car pace and look forward to our home round at the New Zealand Grand Prix event at Manfeild this weekend," father and team manager Colin Gibson said.

Gibson finished the weekend in fifth and has closed the gap in the championship after a shocking Pukekohe round late last year.

The Lightingplus TR86 is on display at Wanganui Toyota and fans are invited to check it out.