• Howick and Pakuranga Times
Although the third round of the championship wasn’t exactly the weekend the former NZ V8 champion and ORIX Racing Team was aiming for in terms of overall results, Manuell was still delighted to have secured one victory in the three races.
“We’ve been trialling a new engine for the V8 series and naturally there’s a fair bit of work to be done to get things the way we’d like them,” says Manuell, who grew up in Howick Pakuranga and operates a business in East Tamaki.
ORIX Racing Team spokesman Glenn Middleton says under series’ regulations, the engine change meant Manuell had to start from the back of the grid in race one, finishing 18th.
The team continued to work on the car and race two delivered a slight improvement, with Manuell placing 16th.
The results had him sixth for the start of the reverse grid 22-lapper.
Middleton says with further changes to shocks and springs providing additional performance, Manuell was quickly at the front of the field where he drove a “picture-perfect series of laps” to take the chequered flag.
“With a very comfortable margin of 4.6 seconds back to second, the team was encouraged by the speed the car showed in the final race,” says Middleton.
Manuell says: “The car speed improved throughout the weekend and the win is certainly one for the team after all their hard work.”
Middleton says with round four of the BNT V8s taking place this weekend at Timaru International Raceway, the ORIX team will be all focus in preparations for the tight, twisty South Canterbury circuit where Manuell has traditionally done well.
Manuell sits in 12th place in the drivers’ standings out of 26 competitors, while fellow East Manukau driver Clark Proctor is in 10th spot after a difficult weekend at Teretonga.
Series leader John McIntyre maintained his grip on the championship with wins in race one and two, while he finished eighth in the reverse grid race. “We did the best job in qualifying by nailing the top 10 shoot-out again, which I think has been the key to our success,” says McIntyre.
Queensland-based Kiwi Craig Baird is second in the drivers’ standings, one of the four top drivers including McIntyre, Kayne Scott and Eddie Bell who are steering Ford Falcons. The lone Commodore driver in the top 10 is Auckland’s Andy Booth.
“It was a real tough weekend, but at least I finished ahead of Johnny [McIntyre] in that last [reverse grid] race to claw back some points and it only takes a DNF (did not finish) to change things around,” says Baird.
2009/10 BNT V8s Championship points (top 12 drivers of 26): 1 John McIntyre (Falcon) 553, 2 Craig Baird (Falcon) 482, 3 Kayne Scott (Falcon) 406, 4 Eddie Bell (Falcon) 393, 5 Andy Booth (Commodore) 383, 6 Angus Fogg (Falcon) 381, 7 Tim Edgell (Falcon) 368, 8 Andy Knight (Falcon) 358, 9 Simon Richards (Falcon) 292, 10 Clark Proctor (Falcon) 281, 11 Andrew Anderson (Commodore) 275, 12 Paul Manuell (Commodore) 275.
