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ANDERSON EXPERIENCES UPS AND DOWNS AT TAUPO

With a refreshed ITM Commodore, Andrew headed out for the first test session but soon suffered a return of the rear grip gremlins.  The team worked through some planned changes but little gains were made.

Between the test sessions, a revised set up was adopted and showed some promise.  Making some tweaks during the second session, Andrew was able to make some time gains and was confident heading into qualifying.

As Andrew did not use his new tyres at Manfeild, he elected to bolt them on at the start of the qualifying session to bank a good time early.  Although making further time gains with an improved handling car, Andrew was not able to match the pace of the front runners and qualified in sixteenth position.

Starting race one from fourteenth after a couple of competitors were relegated to the back of the grid for engine changes, Andrew was able to avoid the chaos at turn one to move forward.  With a stable race car, Andrew finished in tenth position.  Pulling into the pit garage at the end of the race, the team found significant damage to the right front tyre.  The rim was missing large chunks and had dug into the rubber down to the wire.  Andrew was lucky that the tyre did not blow during the race.

Andrew was able to hold his top ten position in the opening lap of race 2.  With higher track temperatures, the car set up was slightly off the mark, so although circulating at the same pace, no further gains were made up the order.

A race long battle with Ford driver Eddie Bell saw Andrew able to hold him off on the last lap.  In the closing stages of the race stable mate Andy Booth suffered a suspension failure, promoting Andrew to ninth at the finish line.

After the race, Andrew was penalised by the Driving Standards Observer for not giving Eddie racing room and was dropped back to 17^th for the race.

Race 3 had Andrew starting from grid position 14.  Making good progress through the race, he found himself nudged off the track by Jason Bargwanna who received a drive through penalty for it.  Rejoining the field in twelfth, Andrew started to experience what he thought was an issue with the gear box and the power steering.  Andrew finished in thirteenth position for the race, was 15^th overall for the weekend, and is 16^th on the championship ladder.

Once in pit lane, the cause of the engine gremlins was uncovered.  The steel crank became out of balance during the race and threw the belts out of alignment.  The crank eventually broke and the radiator became pressurised.   The ITM Commodore will be in for some extensive engine work to be ready for the final round of the championship at the ITM400 in Hamilton on April 16 and 17.

The ITM Racing team would like to thank our team partners for their ongoing support: ITM Building Centres, Marley, E-Frame, Sika, Hitachi Power Tools, Wattyl, Haydn Brush Company, Valvoline, Pink Batts, GIB, New Balance, Computer Leasing NZ, Moselle Panel and Paint, PPG, Pinepac Group, West City Holden, Davy Tyre Services, Cottle Motors and Subway.

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