Gearing up for Super GT

Christchurch driver Chris Nicholas will enter his Porsche 997 in the Rodin Cars Super GT Series when the category kicks off at Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell. 

He will campaign the ex-Paul Kelly Porsche 997 with Kelly himself running a later-generation 991.2 car in the series, which starts in January.

“Paul is a friend and we managed to come to a deal to get hold of his old car,” says Nicholas.

“I’ve mainly been running in the South Island Endurance Series with help from James Marshall Motorsport, which has been great, though this season the results haven’t quite been what I had hoped for.

“I’m excited for the new Super GTs. It’s good to get into a series where the cars you are up against are a little more even and you can be a bit more competitive.

“Although I enjoy the one-hour races in the endurance series, you will only get so far up the field until you get to a car that’s just plain faster than you with more experience behind the wheel and you’ll never be up-front.”

Each round of the Rodin Cars Super GT Series will feature two 30-minute races along with one 60-minute race, all with a compulsory pit stop.

To ensure parity between different classes and cars, a balance of performance criteria will be added to each race. 

This will be implemented during the compulsory pit stop, and its length will be determined using qualifying times and lap times from practice sessions.

“There is a good mix of 997 and 991 Porsche machinery, and I’ve raced against a lot of the other drivers before,” adds Nicholas. “Add to that all of the awesome GT4 cars and it’s going to be a great series.”

The Rodin Cars Super GT Series consists of four rounds over three months starting on January 15 at Highlands.

This will be followed by the second round at the Mike Pero Motorsport Park, Rupauna in Christchurch from January 22-23 before heading to Hampton Downs for February 12-13. The final round will be in Taupo from March 26-27.