This weekend’s second round of the 2023 Carter’s Tyre Service South Island Endurance Series in Invercargill also doubles as a round of the 2023 New Zealand Endurance Championship. The 2023 championship takes on a different approach to previous seasons where it was a one race winner-takes-all decider for both the national Three and One Hour Overall and Class titles.
This season the championship drivers points will be totalled from a maximum of four rounds.
(a) The two highest point scoring rounds from the 2023 North Island Endurance series.
(b) The two highest point scoring rounds from the 2023 South Island Endurance series.
Winners of the opening South Island Three-Hour round two weeks ago in Christchurch, Sam Fillmore and Jonny Reid (Audi R8 EvoII GT3) head to Teretonga with a 15-point lead over the father/son pairing of Paul and Ant Pedersen (Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3) with Glenn Smith/John De Veth (McLaren 650 S GT3) in third, a further 16-points back.
Steve Brooks and Bill Riding (Audi R8 EvoII GT3) hold a 20-point lead over Smith/De Veth in the AM-AM Cup category for amateur drivers.
Adam Julian (Porsche 997/) leads the One-Hour (Classes 2&3) overall NZ title chase, just seven-points ahead of Heremana Malmezac (Porsche 991 II MR) with Martin Neill (Porsche 991 II MR) in third.
Ayrton Hodson and Brett Sullivan (BMW Z4) lead the One-Hour (Classes 4&5) overall NZ title chase with an 18-point gap back to Chris Wall (Honda Civic EK).
Fourteen cars are entered in Saturday’s Three-Hour race with 32 in the One-Hour Class 4&5 and 19 in the One-Hour Class 2&3 at Teretonga Park in Invercargill.
There is one more South Island Endurance Series round to be held at the Timaru International Raceway in Timaru 14 October 2023, in which points can also be scored towards the NZ Endurance Championship.
2023 New Zealand Endurance Championship Points
| NI | NI | SI | SI | |||||
| Three-Hour Overall Points | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | Total | |||
| 1 | S.Fillmore/J.Reid | Audi R8 Evo II GT3 | Class 1 | 95 | 95 | 95 | 285 | |
| 2 | P.Pedersen/A.Pedersen | Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 | Class 1 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 270 | |
| 3 | G.Smith/J.de Veth | McLaren 650 S GT3 | Class 1 | 86 | 86 | 82 | 254 | |
| 4 | H.Malmezac/J.Lester | 991 II MR/991 II GT3 R | Class 2 | 82 | 79 | 79 | 240 | |
| 5 | S.Brooks/B.Riding | Audi R8 Evo II GT3 | Class 1 | 76 | 20 | 86 | 182 | |
| 6 | Francois Beziac | 991 II MR/991 II GT3 R | Class 2 | 79 | 10 | 79 | 168 | |
| 7 | L.Hughes/C.van der Drift | Nissan Nismo R35 GTR GT3 | Class 1 | 82 | 73 | 155 | ||
| 8 | C.Orr-West/B.Morris | Mercedes-Benz AMG GT4 | Class 3 | 76 | 76 | 152 | ||
| 9 | Tom Alexander | Porsche 991 II MR | Class 2 | 79 | 10 | 89 | ||
| 10 | Gene Rollinson | McLaren 650 S GT3 | Class 1 | 86 | 86 | |||
| NI | NI | SI | SI | |||||
| One-Hour Classes 2 & 3 Overall | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | Total | |||
| 1 | Adam Julian | Porsche 997 II | Class 2 | 82 | 76 | 95 | 253 | |
| 2 | Heremana Malmezac | Porsche 991 II MR | Class 2 | 95 | 64 | 86 | 245 | |
| 3 | Martin Neill | Porsche 991 I | Class 2 | 70 | 67 | 82 | 219 | |
| 4 | Nick Chester | Marc GT Mercedes E63 | Class 2 | 86 | 82 | 20 | 188 | |
| 5 | Luke Manson | Porsche 991 II | Class 2 | 95 | 86 | 181 | ||
| 6 | Francois Beziac | Porsche 991 II MR | Class 2 | 90 | 20 | 76 | 186 | |
| 7 | S.Brooks/B.Riding | Porsche 992 | Class 2 | 79 | 90 | 169 | ||
| 8 | Grant Aitken | Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 | Class 3 | 76 | 70 | 146 | ||
| 9 | Clay Osborne | BMW M2 | Class 3 | 79 | 60 | 139 | ||
| 10 | Sam Cotterill | Mercedes-Benz AMG GT4 | Class 3 | 70 | 64 | 134 | ||
| NI | NI | SI | SI | |||||
| One-Hour Classes 4 & 5 Overall | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | Total | |||
| 1 | A.Hodson/B.Sullivan | BMW Z4 3.2 | Class 4 | 95 | 95 | 90 | 280 | |
| 2 | Chris Wall | Honda Civic EK | Class 5 | 90 | 90 | 82 | 262 | |
| 3 | Layton Hammond | Honda Civic EK | Class 5 | 90 | 90 | 180 | ||
| 4 | Barry Moore | VW Golf TCR | Class 4 | 95 | 95 | |||
| 5 | Warren Black | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | Class 4 | 90 | 90 | |||
| 6 | Mike Hall | VW Golf TCR | Class 4 | 79 | 79 | |||
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