2017–18 NZ Touring Cars Championship

The 2017–18 NZ Touring Cars Championship (known for commercial reasons as the 2017–18 BNT V8s Championship) was the nineteenth season of the series, and the third under the NZ Touring Cars name. The field consisted of three classes racing on the same grid. Class one featured both V8ST and NZV8 TLX cars. Class two and three consisted of older NZV8 TL and varying touring cars.

The Class One championship was won by Andre Heimgartner while Class Two honours went to Liam MacDonald.

Race calendar

Rnd	Circuit	Date	Map
2017			Hampton Downs Taupō Pukekohe Ruapuna Manfeild Teretonga
1	Pukekohe Park Raceway (Pukekohe, Auckland Region)	3–5 November
2	Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park (Taupō, Waikato)	1–3 December
2018
3	Mike Pero Motorsport Park (Christchurch, Canterbury Region)	12–14 January
4	Teretonga Park (Invercargill, Southland Region)	19–21 January
5	Manfeild: Circuit Chris Amon (Feilding, Manawatū District)	9–11 February
6	Hampton Downs Motorsport Park (Hampton Downs, Waikato)	9–11 March

Teams and drivers

Manufacturer	Vehicle	Team	No.	Driver	Events
Class One
Holden	Commodore (VE)	JumpFlex Racing	42	Matthew Tubbs	2–6
		Hamilton Motorsports	84	Lance Hughes	All
		Hamilton Motorsports	85	Jack Smith^[1]	1–3, 5–6
Nissan	Altima (L33)	Concept Motorsport	007	Nick Ross^[2]	All
Toyota	Camary (XV50)	Richards Team Motorsport	71	Andre Heimgartner^[3]	All
			97	Jason Bargwanna	All
			222	Scott Taylor	6
Ford	Falcon (FG)	Lathrope Racing	73	Brad Lathrope^[4]	1–2, 5–6
Class Two
Ford	Falcon (BF)	Alan McCarrison Racing	9	Alan McCarrison	1
		Digga	11	Justin Ashwell	All
		Brock Timperley Motorsport	59	Brock Timperley	All
		Chelsea Herbert Racing	62	Chelsea Herbert	All
		Nick Farrier Racing	63	Nick Farrier	1–2, 6
		Liam MacDonald Racing	69	Liam MacDonald	All
		Grand Design Timber	77	Rob Wallace	1–2, 5–6
		Dign4U	777	Matt Podjursky^[5]	1–2, 5–6
Holden	Commodore (VZ)	Bronson Porter Racing	40	Bronson Porter	1–2
Invitational
BMW	M3 (E46)	Mortimer Motorsport	177	Matt Griffin^[6]	1
	M3 (E92)	Mortimer Motorsport	197	Warwick Mortimer^[6]	1
	M3 (E92)	BM Racing	98	Andrew Nugent	1
Ford	Falcon (BF)	Nigel Karl Racing	17 171	Nigel Karl	1–2, 5–6
	Falcon (BF)	Thirsty Liquor	18 117	Shane Whitley	1 2
	Ford Falcon (BA)	AV8 Motorsport	32	Tony Anderson	6
	Ford Falcon (BA)	DFM Racing	80	Jono Lester	6
Hyundai	Hyundai i45	Motorsport Services	17	Todd Murphy	6
Holden	Commodore (VE)	Shaws Asphalters	23	John de Veth	6
		AV8 Motorsport	3	Tony Anderson	2
		McDonald Kerbing Specialists	50	Blair McDonald	6
		4H Investments	57	Eric Hennephof	6

Calendar

Round 1 was held in support of the 2017 ITM Auckland SuperSprint while Round 5 was in support of the 2018 New Zealand Grand Prix.^[7]

Rnd		Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Class 1 Winner	Class 2 Winner	Invitational Winner
2017
1	R1	Pukekohe Park Raceway	Andre Heimgartner	Jason Bargwanna	Jason Bargwanna	Liam MacDonald	Andrew Nugent
	R2			Nick Ross	Jason Bargwanna	Liam MacDonald	Matt Griffin
	R3			Andre Heimgartner	Andre Heimgartner	Liam MacDonald	Andrew Nugent
2	R1	Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park	Andre Heimgartner	Andre Heimgartner	Andre Heimgartner	Chelsea Herbert	Nigel Karl
	R2			Jason Bargwanna	Jason Bargwanna	Liam MacDonald	Nigel Karl
	R3			Andre Heimgartner	Andre Heimgartner	Brock Timperley	no starters
2018
3	R1	Mike Pero Motorsport Park	Andre Heimgartner	Andre Heimgartner	Andre Heimgartner	Chelsea Herbert	no entrants
	R2			Jason Bargwanna	Andre Heimgartner	Liam MacDonald	no entrants
	R3			Nick Ross	Andre Heimgartner	Justin Ashwell	no entrants
4	R1	Teretonga Park	Andre Heimgartner	Andre Heimgartner	Andre Heimgartner	Brock Timperley	no entrants
	R2			Jason Bargwanna	Jason Bargwanna	Liam MacDonald	no entrants
	R3			Jason Bargwanna	Nick Ross	Brock Timperley	no entrants
5	R1	Manfeild: Circuit Chris Amon	Nick Ross	Andre Heimgartner	Andre Heimgartner	Brock Timperley	no starters
	R2			Jack Smith	Nick Ross	Brock Timperley	no starters
	R3			Jack Smith	Jason Bargwanna	Brock Timperley	no starters
6	R1	Hampton Downs Motorsport Park	Jason Bargwanna	Jason Bargwanna	Jason Bargwanna	Brock Timperley	John de Veth
	R2			Jack Smith	Nick Ross	Liam MacDonald	John de Veth
	R3			Jack Smith	Jack Smith	Brock Timperley	Nigel Karl

Championship standings

Pos	Driver	PUK			TAU			RUA			TER			MAN			HAM			Pen.	Pts
Pos	Driver	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	Pen.	Pts
Class One
1	Andre Heimgartner	18	2	1	1	4	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	3	10	2	4	4		1179
2	Jason Bargwanna	1	1	4	2	1	2	2	Ret	2	2	1	3	12	5	1	1	10	3		1106
3	Nick Ross	3	17	2	4	2	3	3	2	3	Ret	3	1	2	1	3	17	1	2		1065
4	Lance Hughes	2	4	Ret	5	5	4	4	9	4	3	4	9	4	4	2	3	18	15		873
5	Jack Smith	8	5	12	3	3	5	9	3	Ret				3	2	4	5	2	1		817
6	Matthew Tubbs				7	7	10	10	4	7	7	5	6	10	13	11	9	5	6		704
7	Brad Lathrope	Ret	6	Ret	6	6	6							5	6	13	8	6	5		463
8	Scott Taylor																7	8	7		136
Class Two
1	Liam MacDonald	6	8	3	13	8	8	6	5	Ret	DSQ	6	5	7	9	6	15	11	9		1090
2	Brock Timperley	12	16	6	Ret	10	7	8	7	Ret	4	7	4	6	7	5	11	12	8		1055
3	Chelsea Herbert	9	9	7	8	Ret	11	5	6	6	5	8	7	8	8	8	13	15	14		1041
4	Justin Ashwell	11	15	14	12	13	13	7	8	5	6	9	8	9	11	9	16	14	11		948
5	Matt Podjurksy	10	Ret	Ret	9	14	14							11	10	7	12	13	10		555
6	Robert Wallace	7	11	5	Ret	11	Ret							DNS	12	12	14	16	18		431
7	Nick Farrier	13	10	8	14	9	9										20	17	13		418
8	Bronson Porter	Ret	12	13	Ret	12	12														192
9	Alan McCarrison	15	Ret	Ret																	39
Invitational
-	John DeVeth																4	3	16		-
-	Matt Griffin	5	3	Ret																	-
-	Andrew Nugent	4	Ret	9																	-
-	Blair McDonald																6	7	19		-
-	Warwick Mortimer	17	7	10																	-
-	Jono Lester																10	9	17		-
-	Nigel Karl	14	13	11	10	15	DNS							DNS	DNS	DNS	19	DNS	12		-
-	Shane Whitley	16	14	15	11	Ret	DNS														-
-	Eric Hennephof																18	DNS	DNS		-
-	Tony Anderson				DNS	DNS	DNS														-
Pos	Driver	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	Pen.	Pts
Pos	Driver	PUK			TAU			RUA			TER			MAN			HAM			Pen.	Pts

Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	Second place
Bronze	Third place
Green	Points classification
Blue	Non-points classification
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Retired, not classified (Ret)
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)
Red	Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
	Withdrew (WD)
	Race cancelled (C)
Blank	Did not practice (DNP)
	Did not arrive (DNA)
	Excluded (EX)

Bold - Pole position
Italics - Fastest lap

References

↑ "AUSTRALIAN V8 CHAMPION JOINS BNT V8 GRID FOR ITM AUCKLAND SUPERSPRINT". Retrieved 8 November 2017.
↑ "NICK ROSS READY FOR MILESTONE BNT V8S SEASON". Retrieved 8 November 2017.
↑ "ANDRÉ HEIMGARTNER RETURNS TO BNT V8S IN RTM TOYOTA CAMRY". Retrieved 8 November 2017.
↑ "BRAD LATHROPE READY FOR BNT V8S CLASS ONE DEBUT". Retrieved 8 November 2017.
↑ "YOUNG GUN MATT PODJURSKY CONFIRMED FOR NZ TOURING CAR DEBUT". Retrieved 8 November 2017.
1 2 "MATT GRIFFIN BRINGS BMW M3 TO BNT V8S GRID FOR CLASS THREE TILT". Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
↑ "NZ V8 Touring Cars - 2017/18 Calendar". NZ Touring Cars Championship. NZ V8 Touring Cars. 5 November 2017. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

External links

[JackSmith-1] "AUSTRALIAN V8 CHAMPION JOINS BNT V8 GRID FOR ITM AUCKLAND SUPERSPRINT". Retrieved 8 November 2017.

[Ross-2] "NICK ROSS READY FOR MILESTONE BNT V8S SEASON". Retrieved 8 November 2017.

[Heimgartner-3] "ANDRÉ HEIMGARTNER RETURNS TO BNT V8S IN RTM TOYOTA CAMRY". Retrieved 8 November 2017.

[Lathrope-4] "BRAD LATHROPE READY FOR BNT V8S CLASS ONE DEBUT". Retrieved 8 November 2017.

[Prodjursky-5] "YOUNG GUN MATT PODJURSKY CONFIRMED FOR NZ TOURING CAR DEBUT". Retrieved 8 November 2017.

[Mortimer-6] 1 2 "MATT GRIFFIN BRINGS BMW M3 TO BNT V8S GRID FOR CLASS THREE TILT". Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.

[7] "NZ V8 Touring Cars - 2017/18 Calendar". NZ Touring Cars Championship. NZ V8 Touring Cars. 5 November 2017. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

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