KEY POINTS:
Australian David Besnard is rated as a rookie in this season's New Zealand V8 championship, but he has the sort of experience many established drivers will envy.
The 29-year-old from the Gold Coast has had more than 60 starts in the Australian V8 Supercar championship, including one win, and showed his versatility by driving a Champ Car in the Indy 500 at Surfers a couple of years ago, finishing seventh.
This year, in the Supercar enduros with Max Wilson in a WPS Ford, he was 11th at Sandown and 14th at Bathurst.
Besnard will drive for the Hydraulink Ford team in New Zealand, taking over the seat vacated by John McIntyre. After testing his new car, Besnard said he expected to be a contender.
He was recommended to the team by his former WPS team-mate Craig Baird, who had to turn down the drive because of his commitments to Porsche GT-3.
Another Bathurst graduate, Ian Spurle, will make his debut in a Holden previously raced by Paul Manuell.
The 41-year-old Aucklander has raced two-litre touring cars and Tranzams - but has been waiting for the chance to get into the V8 championship with his own team.
Former Formula Ford champion Tim Edgell will join the NZV8s in a new Ford being prepared by Autotek in Christchurch, with his father, Randall, having worked on the engine.
Englishman Shaun Richardson, based at Te Kauwhata, races one of the Holdens campaigned by Team Kiwi last season.
