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ITM Racing Team

ITM are proud to be associated with the Andrew Anderson's V8 racing team. Read the article below or visit www.nzv8s.co.nz for further details. For Dean Sumner's Rally Team, click here.



2009/10 NZV8s ITM400 Trophy Event Review – Hamilton
Anderson ends on a high


Rolling out for the one and only test session on a cold track, there was little time to play around with set up changes. Unable to test the new Holden front hubs before the weekend, it was green fields for the team. Initial lack of front grip was worked on and along with establishing a brake balance for the track, all in all Andrew was feeling good. Later in the session and becoming accustomed to the slightly modified street circuit layout, Andrew was able to top the Holdens on the time sheet but was only eighth overall.

Working on improvements following debriefing with team mate Andy Booth, the team approached qualifying with confidence. On used tyres in the first session, the changes had sharpened up the handling and Andrew was able to drop his times to be fourth fastest at the end of the session. The session was red flagged which forced the organisers to revise the qualifying format.

With now only a top 20 fifteen minute session to fight it out for pole position, the team bolted on new tyres and opted to post a time in case another incident halted qualifying. With the track greasy after an oil spill, a fast time was proving hard to nail. After resetting the tyres, Andrew hit the track and managed to jump back into the top ten for eighth place, only a tenth of a second off Andy Booth.


“I’m slightly disappointed that we are not further up the grid. We’re now going experimental in search of a quicker car” said Anderson.


After a debrief overnight, the team utilised the promoter’s hot lap session to assess further set up changes. Rolling to the start, Andrew got a great jump and inside a couple of late breakers. Exiting turn 1, Angus Fogg on the outside crowded us to the wall. Opting to let him, Andrew played conservative on the opening lap. Approaching turn 4, Fogg spun in front of Andrew as a result of damaging his rear wheel. Slipping through, Andrew had jumped to 5th on lap one from grid position 8.


As the race progressed, the ITM Commodore was handling great and altering his lines to the new set up, Andrew pulled forward to Andy Knight. Putting pressure on Knight, Andrew was trying to force a mistake in order to make the pass, but to no avail. A late race spin from Edgell in the lead moved Andrew forward to fourth position and first Holden home.


“With some minor adjustments, I am confident of getting amongst the front three Fords in the two Sunday races. Bring it on!” commented Anderson.


Starting from his best grid position this season, Andrew set off from fourth and pulled alongside John McIntyre to challenge for second around the outside of turn one. On the drag race to turn two, he pulled ahead and Andrew slotted into third. The car was strong and Andrew was holding third from a hard charging Andy Knight. As the race neared the finish, the brakes started to fade. Missing the driver’s side mirror, Andrew was blinded to Knight as he drove down the inside of turn 1 to take third. Heading into the final lap, the rear brakes locked causing Andrew to half spin, lose two spots and come home in sixth place.


A late light signal at the start of race three caused a concertina at turn one and a four car pile up. Andrew was able to use this to his advantage and moved from his starting position of fifth to third place. After the safety car period, Andrew was able to pull forward from Eddie Bell but did not have the pace to catch the leading pair of McIntyre and Knight. With a very consistent car, Andrew was able to settle into a rhythm and cross the line in third place.


“The ITM Commodore was getting better all weekend. The ITM Racing team did an awesome job and it was fantastic to come out with three solid race results in front of all the ITM team and customers at the ITM400” said Anderson.


Andrew finished the weekend in fourth place and was the first Holden home. Andrew was a mere four points off finishing third and getting on the podium in front of the ITM400 crowd.


The ITM Racing team would like to thank our wonderful group of team partners for their support during the 2009/10 season - ITM, Marley, Kincrome, E-FRAME, Selleys, Hitachi Power Tools, Valvoline, Pink Batts, West City Holden, New Balance, Moselle Panel and Paint, Davy Tyre Services, Cottle Motors, PPG, and Subway.

To see more photos of the event, check out the ITM Racing page on Facebook.





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