THE FIN
ISSUE 2
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- 5th NO
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VEMBER
2012
THE FIN 5-in-5: a manic few weeks at the wheel!
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Hi and welcome to the second issue of The Finish Line, an online e-Magazine where I will share the latest news and updates on my motor racing activities in New Zealand and Japan. The last five weeks have been full on, with five events across New Zealand and in Japan, driving everything from the V8 SuperTourer to the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, to the Porsche GT3 Cup car and even a roadgoing Toyota GT86! The results have spoken for themselves, and we have some solid momentum heading into the end of the 2012 racing season. The last 5 weeks have bought with them 4 pole positions, 3 race wins, 5 fastest laps and a lap record to boot! They’ve also bought disappointment with a horror Pukekohe 500 where everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong in the JMR #47 Falcon. The highlight was definitely getting back to Japan after five months since my last race with the PETRONAS Syntium Team, and we made the most of it by taking our first victory of the season at the famous Suzuka circuit! The following pages are full of reports, pics, links to video clips and other cool stuff from my world of racing. I hope you enjoy it! And if you do, remember to subscribe! Thanks for your support, Jono Lester
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THE FIN South Island Endurance: Fastway Racing
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Teretonga & Timaru Wrap The South Island Endurance Series has a strong following and the opportunity to compete in the 2012 championship with Fastway Racing provided the perfect opportunity to keep race fit in between events in Japan. Much like the Japanese Super Taikyu Championship, the SIERDC has fields featuring cars of all levels of performance, meaning your speed in traffic is of the utmost importance. Paired with Simon Ellingham in the Fastway Racing Porsche GT3 997, we headed to the deep South for the first round of the series at Invercargill. It was evident after only a handful of laps that we had a package that could win the race, and we made the best possible start with pole position ahead of a bunch of other Porsches, driven by many of my ex-Porsche GT3 Cup rivals. Trouble struck early in the 3 hour race when Simon found the gravel trap, giving me a 2-hour window to drive my butt off and claw us from 8 laps down to 4 at the finish, and back into 4th overall after dropping well outside the top ten. I was absolutely exhausted after the race - it was a timely reminder of just how much more physical a Porsche is in comparison to the majority of race cars out there! Conditions for round two of the SIERDC at Timaru a fortnight later couldn’t have been more different. A huge storm front sat over the Canterbury region and from the time I arrived to the time I left, it just didn’t stop raining!
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THE FIN South Island Endurance: Fastway Racing
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Teretonga & Timaru Wrap (continued) This made qualifying a lottery. I arrived at the circuit without practice (we had been testing the V8 SuperTourers further North) but still placed the car on pole position for the 1-hour race, and 4th for the 3-hour race. The track condition was dangerous but manageable for the 1-hour race, which I won comfortably, however it became downright silly in the 3-hour and it was one of the few times where I would rather have been watching from the pits than behind the wheel! I picked off the three Porsches in front of me early, and pulled a 15-second gap before the rain got heavier still and bought out the safety car. I dove into the pits for a driver change, and Simon negotiated the conditions as best he could. Meanwhile I was urging the officials to consider whether the race should continue, as a number of less experienced ‘co drivers’ were now on track. It took a huge accident for another competitor followed by a lengthy red flag, a half hour under the safety car and the race being declared 45mins early to blow any strategy we had out of the water and relegate us to an unfortunate 4th place finish. With one round remaining at Ruapuna, coinciding with the V8 SuperTourers in November, we are still in touch to win the championship. But we will need some luck to get there!
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D OAR B E ON GE >>> H T CH OOTA F WAT
South Island Endurance: Fastway Racing
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Teretonga & Timaru Photo Gallery
Photo Credits: Euan Cameron
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South Island Endurance: Fastway Racing Results Breakdown
Round One @ Teretonga Qualifying Race (3 hours) 1 Ellingham/Lester 58.926 1 Kelly/Gaunt 171 Laps 2 Kelly/Gaunt 59.300 2 Bagnall/Pedersen +2.325 3 Bagnall/Pedersen 59.324 3 Armstrong/Hamilton +1 Lap 4 Ellingham/Lester +4 Laps
Round Two @ Timaru Qualifying Race (3 hours)
Overall Points (2 of 3)
1 Armstrong/Hamilton 1:09.982 1 Armstrong/Hamilton 90 Laps 1= Kelly/Gaunt 185 2 Kelly/Gaunt 1:10.890 2 Bagnall/Pedersen +4.949 1= Bagnall/Pedersen 185 3 Bagnall/Pedersen 1:11.403 3 Kelly/Gaunt +12.512 3 Armstrong/Hamilton 184 4 Ellingham/Lester 1:11.517 4 Ellingham/Lester +2 Laps 4 Ellingham/Lester 168
Additionally, pole and the race win in the SIERDC Timaru 1 Hour Race.
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THE FIN Super Taikyu: PETRONAS Syntium Team
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Suzuka Wrap After five months away from the Land of the Rising Sun, the prospect of returning to Japan was really exciting. Even more so, as we were visiting the Suzuka circuit - an opportunity that had been teasing me since I first saw the season calendar early in 2012. The recent seat time in the V8 SuperTourers and the Fastway Racing GT3 proved instantly beneficial as I topped the time sheets in my first practice session on the fast, open, flowing 5.8km circuit. With Formula One having raced there only two weeks previous, the grip level was crazy and the circuit really suited the roaring Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. I further acclimatised myself in the next run and we went into qualifying again the quickest car in the field. After so many ‘almost’ victories for our Car #28 entry this year, we knew this weekend we were in with a shot this time around. But it would take a full team effort to get there. The first step towards this was taking a double pole position. In Super Taikyu, the grid is determined by the aggregate best laps of two nominated drivers, and myself and my team mate Tatsuya Kataoka found the the clear track to achieve our goal! I then found myself at the mercy of the officials for the first of three times over the weekend, highlighting some differences in culture, racing style and rules to what I’m used to in other parts of the world. I was relegated to 4th for the start of the first race for ‘dangerous driving’, recovering from a spin in a dangerous area of the track while trying to eek out another couple of tenths to solidify our grid positions.
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ART T S ACE >>> R E A H TH SUZUK C T WA ROM F
THE FIN Super Taikyu: PETRONAS Syntium Team
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Suzuka Wrap (continued) Even so, we were confident we could win from the second row. The first race, however, was a nightmare for both Car #28 and the Super Taikyu community as a whole. I made a great getaway, but those around me didn’t. This put me ahead of the 3rd place car by the start finish line, which justifies a ‘jumped start’. One drive through penalty later and the race was interrupted once more, at the half way point, when a horrific accident at the end of the main straight claimed the life of a well known privateer in his Nissan 350z. His death bought an abandonment to the first race, and put a real dampener on the rest of the day as the series went into mourning. With a fresh start for the second race, from our rightful pole position, I led the field away and battled hammer and tong with my team mate, NOB Taniguchi, for the first half of the race. When I pitted from the lead, a slick stop by our crew and a fast driver change put us in a prime position to take our first race win of the season. Melvin [Moh], my ‘partner in crime’, drove like a champ and I was elated when he crossed the line in first place! The championship may be out of reach now (we sit in second overall), but our immediate focus is a repeat of this performance at Autopolis on November 10-11, to end the season on a real high! Thanks as always to dwA Motorsport and the PETRONAS Syntium Team crew for their valiant efforts all weekend.
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PIT A K U SUZ O >>> R E U H O OP VID C T ST WA
THE FIN Super Taikyu: PETRONAS Syntium Team Suzuka Photo Gallery
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On Press Technology and Innovation for the Flexible Packaging Industry
THE FIN Super Taikyu: PETRONAS Syntium Team
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Results Breakdown
Round Five @ Suzuka Qualifying 1
Qualifying 2
1st Lester/Kataoka/Moh
1st Lester/Kataoka/Moh
Race 1 (60mins)
Race 2 (60mins)
4th Lester/Kataoka/Moh Race abandoned @ 30mins
1st
Lester/Kataoka/Moh (+ Fastest Lap)
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THE FIN V8 SuperTourers: John McIntyre Racing
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Pukekohe 500 Wrap The Pukekohe 500 was a reminder that motorsport can be a cruel game at times. After four weeks of various successes in the Porsche, GT86 and SLS AMG, the John McIntyre Racing team and I were confident that at Pukekohe we could continue our strong double podium result from the first round at Taupo. There had been rule changes and car changes to boot, and the team had a fresh approach to the Pukekohe 500. We were all confident that this could be JMR’s weekend! What followed, I could never have anticipated. In the 2.5 hours of testing over Friday and Saturday, I managed to complete no more than 5 flying laps of the circuit, and John didn’t get much more himself. Chasing a violent steering drama in the #47 Falcon, just keeping the car ‘on the island’ was a challenge. This meant we spent the majority of testing in the garage, bonnet up, with the mechanics working to rectify the problem. The lack of track time and car balance showed in qualifying, where we managed just 17th position, still chasing the gremlins that were hampering our performance. The opening race bought more bad luck. I passed three cars in the opening couple of laps, before the car stopped dead on the back straight with an electrical problem. Finding the circuit breakers on our instrument cluster, I managed to re-fire the engine, albeit a lap down on the field. I circulated as best I could before handing over to John. Further suspension and steering issues saw more time in the pit lane, and we eventually finished 4 laps down on the winner.
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LINE N O 3’s E >>> V T CH VERAG T A W T CO V8S
Photo Credits: Geoff Ridder
THE FIN V8 SuperTourers: John McIntyre Racing
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Pukekohe 500 Wrap (continued) Hoping for a fresh start on Sunday, we were pleasantly surprised in the morning hot laps that the car felt transformed. It was consistent, well balanced and felt fast. This gave us a much needed boost in morale in the pit garage, and starting from the rear of the field, a strong 53-lap race from John and I saw us claw our way up from 18th to 7th at the chequered flag. Even this was short-lived, as the 70-lap feature race kicked off from our 13th grid position. The car felt great in the early laps and I made my way into the top 10, however a vibration in the rear of the car worsened lap by lap until by the end of my stint I had fallen to the rear of the field. Sighting a possible tyre problem, we changed the left rear during our driver change, however John soon reported the same issues and similarly slipped back in the field. A gearbox failure capped of a weekend we would rather forget. John’s points lead in the V8 SuperTourers Championship is now in the hands of Scott McLaughlin, and our hopes of a positive result in the Endurance Championship rest on an almighty push at the final round at Ruapuna at the end of November. It was great to race at Pukekohe again, after three years. The place has certainly lost none of its bumps, and still requires a massive amount of cojones to lap around there quickly, especially in a less sophisticated V8! It certainly makes me appreciate how spoilt I’ve been racing a Porsche around there in years gone by. The workload ahead for JMR before Ruapuna is significant, but we won’t give up without a fight!
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THE FIN V8 SuperTourers: John McIntyre Racing
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Pukekohe 500 Photo Gallery
Photo Credits: Geoff Ridder
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Photo Credits: Geoff Ridder
THE FIN V8 SuperTourers: John McIntyre Racing
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Results Breakdown
Round Six @ Pukekohe (Endurance Round Two) Qualifying Race 1 (53 laps) 1 McLaughlin/Webb 56.540 1 McLaughlin/Webb 52:31.843 2 Murphy/Perkins 56.545 2 Murphy/Perkins +7.240 3 Booth/D’Alberto 56.770 3 Scott/Evans +8.388 17 McIntyre/Lester 57.640 18 McIntyre/Lester +5 Laps
Race 2 (53 laps) Race 3 (70 laps) Endurance Points (2 of 3) 1 Murphy/Perkins 57:10.034 1 Murphy/Perkins 1:17:01.638 1 Murphy/Perkins 1470 2 McLaughlin/Webb +1.176 2 McLaughlin/Webb +1.639 2 McLaughlin/Webb 1430 3 Gaunt/Waite +7.757 3 Moore/Kelly +6.748 3 Moore/Kelly 1119 7 McIntyre/Lester +16.234 14 McIntyre/Lester +49.792 5 McIntyre/Lester 771
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THE FIN My Highlights from the last 5 weeks
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Fastway Racing: South Island Endurance Series • • • • •
Pole position, fastest lap and a new race Lap Record at Teretonga A spirited fight back from 8 laps down to finish in 4th place, within 4 laps of the race winners Timing our fuel to the teaspoon, and running out of gas entering the pit lane after the race! Showing our speed in the wet at Timaru also, and again being the fastest car by a considerable margin Pole, victory and the fastest lap in the 1 Hour race at Timaru
PETRONAS Syntium Team: Super Taikyu Endurance Series • • • • •
Double pole position, our first race win and the fastest race lap at Suzuka Fighting back from a disappointing opening race to take a convincing victory Battling wheel to wheel with Japanese star ‘NOB’ Taniguchi for the opening half of the winning race at Suzuka The Suzuka circuit - the most amazing race track I’ve ever lapped around! Having this success with my grandfather Rob and father Richard there with me. An awesome 3 generation ‘boys trip’!
John McIntyre Racing: V8 SuperTourers Endurance Series
• Very little on the track, however clawing our way from 18th to 7th in Race Two showed our potential • Having the opportunity to be one of the last drivers to race around Pukekohe before the track layout is changed
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THE FIN Introducing Project 86
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In between the race events in the Porsche, Falcon and SLS AMG, we had our first track test in the new Toyota GT 86. It’s a machine that’s been the cause of much talk and interest in the motoring industry, which led Wellington tuners STM (Speedtech Motorsport) to purchase one as part of a long term project to create the ultimate - but realistic - road-come-track-day machine. When they approached me to be involved in the project, evaluating the car on the road and the track as it all came together, it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up! We had our first run at the NZ Superlap Series at Manfeild, where I had the chance to run the car in wet and dry conditions in ‘showroom’ form, right down to the standard brakes and tyres. Even the tyre pressures! It’s a wicked little unit, admittedly underpowered, but well balanced and with a pointy, darty from end at low and high speed. With a bit of tyre grip and some upgraded suspension, we can really get the thing holding on like rails through the middle and exit of corners, I believe. But that all comes later, as the project unfolds! Follow STM on Facebook to see the build unfold, or visit www.speedtechnz.com
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86 T C E ROJ >>> P E TH VIDEO H C WAT PROMO
STM PROJECT 86
FOLLOW JONO AND THE TEAM WITH THEIR NEW TOYOTA 86
THE FIN Project 86: Speedtech Motorsport Manfeild Track Test Photo Gallery
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Instagram Pics The latest snaps from Instagram @jono_lester
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Behind the camera with D1NZ and TV3 Putting the shoe on the other foot this summer, I’ll be presenting TV3’s coverage of the D1NZ Drifting Championship as it travels the country celebrating ‘10 years sideways’. Despite my upbringing and my position in motorsport as a circuit racer, I’m a closet drifting nut! Most likely because as I watch these guys taking Pukekohe’s infamous turn one at over 180km/h - sideways! - I can’t comprehend what an adrenaline rush it must be. Drifting, like it or not, would rival the V8 SuperTourers now as New Zealand’s most popular form of motorsport, and certainly worldwide it now commands a massive following. So, to get involved with the series and add my two cents will be a lot of fun and allow me to get up close and personal with the sport and see how it works, from the inside. Hey, you might even see me behind the wheel one day! The series will be running over the summer so look out for it on CRC Motorsport, TV3 Sunday afternoons.
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Put your money where your heart in your mouth is
THE FIN Recent Media Snippets New Zealand Herald - 17th October
3 News - 23rd October
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Recent Media Snippets - web links CRC motornews.co.nz speedcafe.co.nz
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S W E N T R O P S R O T O M T X S O E T B A N L I S R ’ U D O N Y A L O A TT C E R I D NEW ZE D N A E N ONLI
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Closing Notes Next event:
Super Taikyu Endurance Series Round Six (Final) Autopolis, Fukuoka 10-11 November, 2012 Driving the PETRONAS Syntium Team Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3
Super Taikyu V8 SuperTourers
Round 6 Round 3
Autopolis PETRONAS Christchurch JMR
LinkedIn Flickr
Twitter YouTube
Remaining events on the 2012 Calendar: 10-11 Nov 24-25 Nov
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Finally, a big thank you to my supporting Partners!
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