FOGG SHINES AT TERETONGA
Angus Fogg Racing: BNT V8s Championship – round three review, Teretonga Park Raceway, Invercargill
Birkenheads Angus Fogg continues to hold the overall lead in the BNT V8s championship after the series third round held at Invercargills Teretonga Park Raceway. The 44-year-old race car engineer won both races on Sunday and placed fifth in Saturdays race.
Winning the feature race and reverse-grid race, Fogg points advantage is now 53 in the six round title battle.
All teams faced challenges throughout the weekend with atrocious weather conditions. Rain, hail, thunder, rain and fiercely cold winds buffeted the southern circuit, making the track surface treacherous and hard to read.
On arrival at the circuit on Friday to find the venue swamped with storm water Fogg’s team decided to sit out the testing and hotlaps session that afternoon deciding the track conditions were too treacherous to safely take guests for a good ride.
The weather conditions constantly changed throughout the day on Saturday, meaning Fogg’s crew made numerous setup changes to allow for the amount of wind and rain on track. Fogg set the second-fastest time in the all-in qualifying session, however a brake lockup and off-track excursion in his top 10 shootout lap resulted in a start from ninth place.
Starting from the rear of the grid for race one, Fogg and the Radio Sport Falcon stormed past three cars in the opening lap, then spent much of the race challenging both Simon Richards and Tim Edgell for position, ending up 5th place overall in the 12 lap race. “The car wasn’t quite right for the conditions so we have some work to do to a frontrunner for tomorrow” said Fogg at the end of the day.
Sunday dawned wet and windy, with the forecast of hail keeping the teams on their toes. Angus and his team were kept busy changing setups in the pits as the weather went from bad to worse throughout the day. Starting from grid 4 in race two, Fogg was soon in the lead and managed to hold that to the end despite pressure from Jason Bargwanna and Martin Short.
“In Race 3 under wet conditions we started 3rd and the race began with a fantastic three way battle with Bargs, Shorty jnr and I. We pitted on the same lap as Bargs and narrowly missed getting out in front of him so charged off in pursuit again. Shorty jnr had opened a gap on the field, however a bold move on Bargs saw us move up to second, and on the next lap Shorty locked up at the hairpin and went off onto the grass, allowing us to slip through into the lead, and ultimately take the chequered flag”
“The Radio Sport Falcon came out of the meeting virtually damage-free, we have some hotlaps at Teretonga tomorrow, then a strip and prep for Timaru next weekend”.
Fogg and his Radio Sport Racing team will prepare the Radio Sport Falcon in Invercargill before heading North to Timaru International Raceway this coming weekend - 21-22 January 2012.
Angus Fogg acknowledges his family of sponsors in his quest to win New Zealand’s Gold Star Saloon title: Radio Sport, Mountshop, Hydraulink Hose & Fittings, Supercharge Batteries, Segedins Auto Spares of Dominion Road, Strapping Systems (NZ) Ltd, Moselle Panel & Paint, PPG, Affordable PartsWorld, HIAB Services, Delo, Brenics Transport Ltd, i-Sign it, Fromm Packaging Systems, Tom Ryan Cartage, Mason Tool & Engineering, Stainless Welding and Invercargill Oil Shop.
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2011-2012 Premier race championships calendar:
Round 1: Pukekohe 5-6 November 2011
Round 2: Ruapuna 10-11 December 2011
Round 3: Teretonga 14-15 January 2012
Round 4: Timaru 21-22 January 2012
Round 5: Manfeild 11-12 February 2012
Round 6: Taupo 10-11 March 2012
Posted: Mon 16 Jan 2012
