Asian Motor Sports

Aussie David Besnard won two of his first three races as Ford dominated the opening round of the NZV8 Championship at Pukekohe over the weekend. Besnard’s two wins put the veteran of over 60 V8 Supercar races on the lead with 217 points. Ford drivers hold the top seven spots after the first round,

Last season’s Series runner-up, Angus Fogg, set the fastest lap time in Saturday’s qualifying, with fellow Ford contender John McIntyre second fastest.

Twenty nine-year-old Besnard lined up in pole position for Sunday’s first race as a result of having set the fastest lap time on Saturday. Within seconds of the race starting, Fogg snatched the lead into the esses on the first lap.

Fogg then held the lead for eight laps until Besnard slipped past him in the dipper.

McIntyre was within a few metres of the duelling front-running pair for two-thirds of the race only to shoot onto the grass and lose third place to Youlden. McIntyre came home fourth.

New regulations for the 2006-07 season saw the third race start with a reversed grid, based on points earned in the first two races.

As a result of two disappointing races, defending champion Kayne Scott (Fujitsu Holden) started in pole position with series newcomer Shaun Richardson beside him on the front row of the grid.

Andrew Anderson and Hamilton driver Cam Hardy made an all-Holden top four. Scott took advantage of a clear track to lead for 16 of the 20 laps.

Starting from 27th position, Besnard said he had a dream run as he climbed to second behind Scott by the 11th lap. The pair then diced and duelled before Besnard finally managed to hold the lead with just two laps to go.

Scott had to settle for second place after what had been a frustrating weekend for the defending champion, largely due to mechanical issues.

Booth was third, with Mark Pedersen and Darryn Henderson rounding out the top five.

The result meant he ended the weekend with 217 out of a maximum 225 points, 43 points up on his nearest rival. Nonetheless, Besnard is still looking for more pace from his Hydraulink Ford Falcon.

“After a slow start we kept our cool and never gave up – now we’ve got a car that just gets better and better. It has awesome horsepower that just made me look good, it has been an awesome effort by the whole team.

“Even though we’ve had a dream run here today, we need to get more out of the car. This is the first round with six to go so we need to keep moving forward.”