The series points leaders in each of the classes in the GTRNZ Series made significant gains to their championship aspirations at the Manfeild circuit in Feilding today.

As the first day of the penultimate round of the series took place both the GT1 and GT2 class leaders, Grant Brennan and Craig Corliss, took maximum points in their respective classes while NZGT Series leader Brent Lander managed to finish ahead of his major rivals when he took second place behind Jon Telford in their race.

Brennan of Tauranga in his Brennan SB2 Corvette and John Rae of New Plymouth in a C5 Corvette were the fastest qualifiers in the GT1 Class with Brennan taking pole by just .206 of a second. A repeat of their huge battle from the series last outing at Manfeild looked to be on the cards and the opening laps saw the duo battling furiously as they exchanged places at the front of the field several times. However Rae began to fall back, the result of a loss of side grip while he was also battling the effects of a virus. The brake pads on the Corvette were also well past their best so the New Plymouth driver eased back to bring the car home.

Modern day warfare returns to Manfeild, the 3.03 kilometre motor racing circuit in Feilding, this weekend. The GTRNZ category of big banger and highly modified saloons take to the Manawatu track to continue on from where they left off in January. On that occasion GT1 Class pacesetter Grant Brennan of Tauranga described one of his battles with New Plymouth driver John Rae "like going to war."

Brennan and Rae fought it out wheel to wheel on that occasion as Brennan took two race wins to Rae's one. The racing was spectacular as the duo fought tooth and nail, Brennan in his Brennan SB2 Corvette and Rae in his C5 Corvette. Both return this weekend and adding an exciting edge to the contest is the fact that this is the penultimate round of the inaugural GTRNZ Championship. Brennan has opened up a lead in the GT1 Class but behind him Palmerston North driver Cameron Jones in his rotary powered Chev Camaro is in a tight points battle with Rae.

Brennan did a superb job last time out at Pukekohe to recover from a crash caused by a mechanical problem in the first race to battle with Kayne Scott throughout the round. The team has not had time to repaint the car since that round just two weeks ago, the orange Corvette described by the team as the "orange roughy" for the time being.

The Historic Racing Club and Taupo Classic Rally Club held the inaugural 12 Endurance Race for open class saloon cars at Hampton Downs Raceway on Saturday.

Taupo drivers, Rick Cooper, Deon Cooper and Mike Ashton in their Hyundai sponsored Ford GT won after an action filled race. Second home was a CEMAC sponsored BMW E30 of Hamilton drivers Ross Wilson, Martyn & Mathew Seddon. Third home was the Blenheim Toyota sponsored Toyota Corolla twin turbo of South Island competitors Craig & Scott McDermid and Patrick Heagney

The race started at 7.00 am on a clear day and continued in sunny conditions until the finish flag was presented at 7.00pm to the winning team after 501 laps of the 2.8km Hampton Downs Raceway.

After a history making round at the latest New Zealand motorsport venue, Hampton Downs, it was on to possibly the most historic of them all, as the Weldwell New Zealand Formula First class arrived at Pukekohe Park Raceway for “Mid-Summer Thunder” over the weekend.

Qualifying was a wide open affair, as half the field were bunched into one group, causing havoc for the drivers on a good lap, as they would have no-where to go once arriving on the pack – thus anyone with a half decent solo lap had a good chance of getting up front.

In the end it was current championship point’s leader Michael Shepherd in the Go Rentals/Inov8 Challenge who grabbed the first position on the grid, with Speedsport scholarship winner Aaron Hodgson taking second position. Third place went to the Gaskin Ford & Mazda machine of Jamie Gaskin, just infront of the ‘elder statesmen’ – Bryan McConkey in his H.R.S machine.