The opening round of the South Island Endurance Series at Ruapuna Raceway, in Christchurch, is a mixture of first-times and tried-and-true formulas for the Otago drivers competing in the three rounds of three-hour races.
Southern Lakes drivers Grant Aitken, of Queenstown, is teaming up for a debut drive with fellow Cromwell Motorsport Park trustee Allan Dippie in the Wanaka businessman's Porsche GT3.
While Dippie reasoned it was a "good chance for an Otago-based team to get together," the other motive was to see if Aitken will be a good fit for his driving team contesting the Bathurst 12-Hour in February.
Meanwhile, Aitken, who has less than fond memories of Mount Panorama, where he stacked a Suzuki Baleno into the wall and ended up in hospital, said he would be taking it "one weekend at a time."
Dunedin duo Warren Good and Arron Black have a new engine in their BMW E46 after three years competing together.
The 3.2-litre powerplant was built by BMW Motorsport in the United Kingdom and would hopefully supply "a whole lot more horsepower," Black said.
Alexandra's Bruce Davidson and David Garden won the 3501cc-plus class last year and are back aiming to double up that result in their Chev C5 Corvette this season.
Also campaigning last year's charger is Black's brother, Stu, also of Dunedin, driving a Ford V8 ute.
Endurance fans will get a good, long, look at one of Ferrari's latest racing machines - the F430 Challenge - as drivers Terry Robinson, Sam McNeill and car owner Lower Hutt's Tim O'Connor take it for its first outing in the series.
While the Ferrari will be looking for GT class and overall honours, it will have to beat the 2009 series-winning BA Falcon V8 Supercar belonging to the Carter brothers Matt and Dwayne.
Add in Invercargill driver Scott O'Donnell's super-high spec factory Porsche GT3 RSR, a bevy of GT3 cup cars and the Kiwi fettled twin turbo GT3 of Angus McFarlane and this class will be one big battle.
Also on the race programme is a separate one-hour race for club cars plus a one-hour motorcycle endurance race, featuring a Le Mans start.
