Gibson primed to produce the goods

The Lightingplus team have found and repaired the glitch and are expecting a vastly improved showing by Matt Gibson in his Toyota TR86 at Hampton Downs this weekend. Photo/Supplied

Wanganui-born motor racer Matt Gibson is ready to make amends when the first round of 2014 kicks into life this weekend at Hampton Downs.

Driving his Lightingplus-sponsored Toyota TR86, Gibson hopes to show he is still a championship contender in the series after a less than average last round at Pukekohe.

Gibson, who had really good pace and car speed at the first round in Cromwell at Highlands Park last year in November, lacked what he needed to continue his good pace.

The best result he and the team could put in was only good enough to bring the No88 Lightingplus Toyota home in fifth place.

The results over the weekend were not what the team were expecting and it took a chunk of the team's confidence away.

"Matt was complaining of an understeer for most of the weekend. We tried a few things but eventually found it and Matt pushed on. He was fast, but just couldn't match the speed of the faster cars," team manager Colin Gibson said.

"The car wasn't the same car I was racing down in Cromwell. The characteristics of the car had changed. She wasn't as responsive as she was in Cromwell and just overall the feel of the car was different. I wasn't comfortable in the car," Matt Gibson said.

The team took the car back home to Wanganui and gave it a thorough check and clean up. While in the workshop technician Tom Ditchfield found the right front strut was bent and that answered their questions.

"Another driver tried a late braking move on Matt in Cromwell and drilled the right hand side of the car. We had a good check over the car at the track and found no damage. But it wasn't until we pulled the car apart at the front and had a thorough inspection that we found the problem," Ditchfield explained.

The team have since been for a day's testing and after a couple of sessions were back on the pace. They are looking forward to showing they still have what it takes to win the TR86 Championship.