Motorsport: Arab teenager wins rain-wrecked GP

Battling atrocious weather unlike any he would see in his home country of Bahrain and helped by a singular piece of luck, Hamad Al Fardan became the first Middle Eastern racer to win the New Zealand Grand Prix at Invercargill's Teretonga Raceway yesterday.

Rated an outside chance at best, the Arab teenager was in the right place when Christchurch racer Andy Knight, who crossed the finish line first, was disqualified after ignoring a repeated instruction from race officials to drive into the pits.

The reason for the instruction was the failure of Knight's rear-facing safety light, which plays a vital role in enabling other drivers to see his Toyota Racing Series (TRS) single-seater through the dense clouds of spray the cars throw up when racing in the wet.

Visibility was all too often an issue during yesterday's racing action, when a blustery southwesterly served up periodic rain and hail squalls. Those storms led to a two hour-delay in the programme before the 34-lap Grand Prix commenced.

Knight won Saturday's TRS event ahead of Daniel Gaunt (Auckland). Jay Howard (England) and Chris Van Der Drift (Hamilton) then took top-honours in the preliminary TRS race yesterday morning.

Fardan was classified as Grand Prix victor from Gaunt, with Brendan Hartley (Manawatu) third. That result remained provisional though, with Knight still having the right to appeal his disqualification.

Competitors in the Parker ENZED V8 championship also had a challenging weekend.

Dunedin's Michael Wallace faced the added headache of problems with the new engine installed for Teretonga and, having made his third engine change of the series, was obliged to start his first race from the back.

He managed to improve to 21st in his first race and finished 17th in his next race. He was then one of several drivers caught up in the hail-induced drama that led to the final race being stopped. Results were declared based on positions at the start of the previous lap, and he was awarded 14th place, his best finish of the season.

The winning spoils went three ways in the V8s, with fastest-qualifier Angus Fogg securing Saturday's race win in a Ford trifecta ahead of fellow Aucklanders John McIntyre and Paul Pedersen.

Fogg seemed to be heading for another win in yesterday's first race but skidded off the track, allowing a gaggle of cars by to fight for the win. It was Holden's championship leader Kayne Scott (Hamilton), who had started four rows back on the grid, who charged through to take victory ahead of Paul Manuel (Auckland) and Australian Cameron McLean.

The V8 field faced atrocious conditions, including a hailstorm, during their third and final race. In the circumstances the only thing less surprising than a multiple pile-up was the organisers' decision to stop the race early after it had occurred.

Winning honours went to Mark Pedersen (Auckland) ahead of Fogg and Luke Youlden (Australia) in another Ford 1-2-3.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES