Lobb hits Manfeild in 'F1 style' car series

Last year's V8 Ute racing champion Caine Lobb hits the Manfeild Autocourse in Feilding this weekend as the nation's first major summer season circuit meeting is held.
However it will not be the mighty V8-powered Holden Racing Team ute the Whangarei driver will be throwing around the circuit today and tomorrow. A return to open wheeled racing in the form of Formula Suzuki will have him fighting for glory in the highly technical world of wings and slicks competition.
Time spent in the seat of a race car is all important for a top driver and over the off-season Lobb has been competing in one of these Hyabusa-powered single-seat race cars in the Hampton Downs Winter Series against a mix of varied open wheelers.
"I was racing against a Formula Holden the other weekend which was really cool and there have been some Formula Atlantics as well. We did three rounds and it's always good to keep driving whenever we can," Lobb said.
With Lobb's V8 ute racing campaign not getting under way until November, this season's Formula Suzuki Series will offer him more than just extra time in the seat of a race car but stiff competition and a return to a cleaner style of non-contact motor racing.
Lobb's main rival in the series will most likely be Gene Rollinson, a past NZV8s and V8 Supercar development series driver who came through the training ground of Team Kiwi Racing.
The two have fought it out on-track in these cars previously but the pair have not competed against each other for an entire season before so it promises to be an exciting contest.
The Formula Suzuki race car was developed by internationally acclaimed "Monster" Tajima as head of Suzuki Motorsport and is a wings-and-slicks "F1 style" car using a 175 horse power Hayabusa engine. The car's weight of just 425kg translates to a power to weight ratio of 450hp per ton into a six-speed sequential gearbox.
Lobb's double-headed season really gets moving when the opening round of the Tier One summer series opens next month.
The ENZED V8 Ute Racing Series starts off at Pukekohe Park Raceway on November 5-7, where Lobb and Holden Racing Team will contest their fourth campaign in a Commodore racing ute.
The team took the series title in 2009 succeeding in their second attempt and were runner-up last season.
The series will be all the more exciting this time around as it steps up into Motorsport New Zealand's Tier One category joining headliners the BNTV8s as a sister attraction and feeder series for up and coming drivers.
Lobb was last at the Tier One Meetings in 2008 when he was runner-up in the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship behind teammate John Whelan.
Due to the Formula Suzuki and NZV8 Ute Racing Series being held within separate categories Lobb has this season been able to undertake full seasons competing in both without any conflict on the calendar.
There are six rounds for both V8 utes and the Formula Suzuki series scheduled for the 2010-11 summer season ending at Taupo Motorsport Park albeit different dates on 18-20 March and 23-24 April respectively.