Angus Fogg recovered from a huge crash to claim the first round of the BNT New Zealand V8s.

Starting the six-round championship with the new-look Radio Sport Falcon, Fogg has made the perfect start to his goal of winning the coveted V8s title, even when adversity challenged his team’s motives. Three second placings in the Sunday 6 November racing was enough for the 44-year-old to take the weekend accolades.

Qualifying third fastest around the 2.82km track on the Saturday afternoon, Fogg was hopeful that Sunday’s three races would turn his fortunes.  The opening 12-lap race offered a glimmer of hope with a second place in fine weather conditions. Starting mid-pack for the second 12-lap top-ten reverse grid race, Fogg wrestled his way through the field despite the rain. Late in the race the #2 Radio Sport Falcon then broke traction to hit the track Armco heavily. Surrounded by competitors also following suit, the race was halted, with calculated results putting Fogg in second place.

Starting from the front row for the third and final race for the day, Fogg made a strong start to get an early lead. With 22 laps to complete including a compulsory pit stop, continuing rain made conditions even more treacherous. Fighting to regain the lead Fogg had to settle for his third second placing, benefiting from consistency to take the round win. (more…)

Angus Fogg spent much of last season’s NZ V8s Championship leading the pack and is tagged with a better chance of securing the coveted title in a new look Radio Sport Falcon when the new series begins this weekend 5 November at Pukekohe Park Raceway.

The Birkenhead based 44-year-old race car engineer had the title wrenched from his grip at last season’s Hamilton street race weekend, a blow he says has improved his chances for the 2011/2012 championship season.

“Lessons learned put us in a stronger position now, leaving no stone unturned both from the technical and mechanical viewpoint. It’ll be a case of go hard or go home,” says Fogg.

“Our strategy of collecting as many points as we can and keeping out of trouble worked perfectly well last season, until Hamilton. So we know what we need to do to lead the series, but being who I am I cannot have a bit of a crack can I?” quipped Fogg. “It’s just my nature to get in there and muscle for the lead, but it has to be tempered.” (more…)

Wellington driver Darryn Henderson succeeded in reaching his goal of a top ten placing on his return to the BNT V8s Championship at Pukekohe last weekend.

After spending two seasons away from the category while he competed in the Porsche GT3 Cup Darryn made a successful return to the V8 fold in his Radio Sport/BP Ultimate Ford Falcon at Pukekohe Park Raceway. His return to the series was a success as he compiled three good results to gain a share of tenth place for the round. Henderson will now head to the second round of the series at Powerbuilt Raceway in Christchurch tenth equal in the point standings with Clark Proctor.

However Henderson is the first to admit that it was far from easy. “I struggled all the way, getting used to the car and a V8 again. All our testing was at Ruapuna, a slower circuit, while Pukekohe is high speed. The car was moving around a lot more – Saturday was tough.”

Nevertheless Darryn qualified a creditable 14th but got caught behind a car that missed the start at the beginning of the first race on Sunday morning. “I just had to sit behind while five other cars got past. It took the rest of the race to repass them all. We were struggling with set up too and made a spring change after the race.”

Race two brought a 14th placing while the highlight came in the third and final race, the 22 lap reverse grid event. “Andrew Anderson went four wide around the outside on the grass at the start and it could have caused carnage. After that I kept my head down. When Angus Fogg, John McIntyre, Craig Baird and Eddie Bell caught up I waved them through. They were catching up quickly so I jumped in behind them hoping to get through with them.” The end result was 7th position and when the points from the three races were totalled Darryn had accumulated 88 points, enough to place him tenth overall for the round along with Proctor.

“I’m pleased overall,” said Darryn as he assessed his first V8s outing for some time. “Saturday was mystifying but I realised it was more me than the car. I think definitely if we get it sorted we have the potential to run just behind the top five or six.”

Henderson now looks forward to the next round over the weekend of 28/29 November.