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Kiwis racing around the world this weekend.

Your guide to Kiwis racing overseas this week

May 18, 2023

New Zealand will be well represented in global motorsports in coming days, we take a look at who’s racing where.

Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge – Tasmania, Australia

  • Marco Giltrap
  • Ronan Murphy
  • Zac Stitchbury

Bearing three of the most iconic surnames in New Zealand motorsport, these three young drivers have each shown outstanding talent in the Australian Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge. Great on track battles between Zac Stitchbury and Ronan Murphy can’t help draw comparison with the Father’s duels of the 90’s. While Marco Giltrap has taken an early lead in the Championship and will be fighting hard for another win.
Zac Stichbury will also be racing with the iconic Whitakers Chocolate livery that graced race circuits on various cars through the 90’s, including that of Zac’s late father Ashley, who was sponsored by the chocolate company during his Formula Ford days.

 

Super Formula – Autopolis, Japan

  • Liam Lawson

Liam Lawson is sitting comfortably in third in his debut season of Super Formula. The car performance is said to be closer to F1 than F2 and the Kiwi’s secondment to Japan seems a very deliberate move by AlphaTauri. Is Red Bull’s sister team keeping Lawson in the wings for a potential F1 season in 2024. The signs are there, and development lead, Helmut Marco’s words this week regarding current AlphaTauri driver, Nick de Vries reaffirm this theory.

The distance to team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who is doing a great job, is too big. To use footballer jargon, Nick got the yellow card, but not the red yet. If he improves, a driver change will not be an issue."

Marko went as far to specifically rule out sidelined veteran, Daniel Riccardo, and name Liam directly.  "If the worst came to the worst, we would fall back on our pool of young talent. It's specifically about Liam Lawson and Ayumu Iwasa.”

 

Supercars - Tasmania SuperSprint, Australia

  • Shane van Gisbergen
  • Matthew Payne

The all-new Gen three Camaros and Mustangs are creating a stir in the Supercar series. Reigning champ Shane van Gisbergen has let it be known the cars have some way to go, but at the same time continues to be consistently near the front. He is sitting third in the Championship and despite not gelling 100% with the car, he seems to enjoy swapping pain with the equally aggressive Brodie Kostecki who is not relinquishing his championship lead easily.

Meanwhile Aucklander, Matthew Payne is also sitting very well in the points given this is his debut season in the main game. Payne is in 12th with 405 points, a strong performance so far for the Penrite Racing driver.

 

European Rally Championship - Poland

  • Hayden Paddon

Nothing shrugs off jetlag like piloting a WRC2 car at speed on a fast gravel stage. Hayden Paddon must surely be one of the hardest-working Kiwi drivers this season, splitting time between New Zealand and Europe contesting both our domestic Rally Championship and the highly competitive European Championship. Paddon is fresh of a commanding victory at Whangārei this week and will be looking to retain his impressive ERC Championship lead. Like Paddon, many of the drivers in the European Championship have the skillset to be in WRC and the Kiwi is relishing the level of competition.