F5000

F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series leader Ian Clements (pictured below in a file photograph) drove his Lola T332 to victory in the incident-shortened Tasman Grand Prix feature race at Pukekohe Park Raceway during January.

Pole qualifier Stuart Lush won the rolling start in his McRae GM1 (he had already won the other two F5000 races), but Clements soon got by.
Lush pursued him until lap nine when the McRae was pitched into the trackside barriers at the top of the hill when a rear wing support broke.
Lush was unhurt, and his McRae wasn't badly damaged, but the Safety Car was deployed for several laps, and officials called the race off after 12 of the scheduled 15 laps had been completed.

Officials also penalised Shayne Windelburn and David Abbott with time penalties for a restart infringement after an earlier Safety Car period.
The result gave Clements the Tasman Grand Prix race win from Aucklanders Aaron Burson (Talon MR1A) and Poul Christie (Lola T190) with Auckland's Grant Martin in the first of the smaller 2.0 litre Formula Atlantic cars inheriting fourth. He was followed by the Formula Holden of Geoff Harriman and the first of the next wave of Formula 5000 cars, Stan Redmond's Lola T332.

Redmond had been running a strong fourth behind Clements, Lush and Windelburn when he spun on oil and dropped down the order.

print