Southland driver Jordan Michels has won the class 2&3 South Island one-hour endurance series title.
Michels and class 4&5 driver Pel Arnott, of Auckland, claimed overall honours after the final round of the series at the Timaru International Raceway on Saturday.
In the class 2&3 race, Michels (Marc II Mustang) finished second to race winner Adam Julian (Audi R8 GT3), but claimed enough points to win the overall title, 16 points ahead of John Goodacre (IRC GT).
"It’s awesome to wrap up the series," Michels, who also won the class 2 (GT Type) title, said.
“It’s been an incredible series. It was a good race, and credit to Adam on capitalising on our mistake."
Michels initially led the 60-minute race, but a hard-charging Julian took the opportunity to grab the lead, which he held until the chequered flag.
“We had a tough day on Friday with all sorts of problems," Julian said.
“It’s been a good race. Jordan has been great to race with and I’m happy to take the win."
In the class 3 stakes, Cromwell driver Steve Scoles (Ginetta G56) wrapped up a hat-trick of class wins. James Paterson (Audi R8 Turbo) was second and David Rogers (McLaren 570S GT4) third.
Scoles also finished fifth overall.
In the class 4&5 one-hour race, it was a Hyundai podium with NZ Formula Ford champion Blake Knowles (Hyundai i30N TCR) edging Dylan Petch (Hyundai i30N), while Arnott’s third place was enough to claim the title, just four points ahead of Knowles.
“It was a good race ... thrilled to win the series," Arnott said.
“The young guys are tough and very fast so some really good racing."
In the race for class 5 (0-2000cc) honours, it was an all-Honda affair, Donavan Isted the first car home in front of Rhys Turner and Jarred Morgan.
Isted wrapped up the overall title ahead of Turner by 22 points.
Heading into the round, he was tied on points with Chris Wall (Honda Civic) with one race win and a second apiece. However, contact with another car during the race led to Wall retiring, taking the pressure off Isted.
Meanwhile, a near-perfect season led to Christchurch pair Steve Brooks and Bill Riding (Audi R8 GT3) claiming the South Island three-hour title.
Their victory in Timaru followed round wins in Invercargill and Christchurch.
Second home and first in class 2 was the pairing of Paul Rickerby and Graeme Rhodes (Marc II Mustang).
The closest title threat was potentially going to come from the Lamborghini GT3 Evo of Glen Brazier and Andrew Waite, who were equal on points with Rhodes and Rickerby heading into the final round, and just 18 behind Brooks and Riding.
However, soon after the one-hour mark, the Lamborghini slowed and entered pit lane before retiring with a gearbox issue.
Brooks and Riding were never threatened after that, completing 180 laps, eight ahead of second place.
They also won the class 1 (GT3) title plus the Michelin AM Cup.
James Sax and Todd Bawden (Mercedes AMG GT4) won the class 3 (3501cc-plus) title, finishing fifth overall, while Matt Moore and Grant Moore (Toyota Altezza) claimed the class 4 (2001-3500cc) title, third overall.
