Motorsport: Grand Prix still the race they want to win

Daniel Gaunt times his stints on the rowing machine at the gym to the second. He must do 31m 15s before he moves on to another apparatus.

Why that time exactly? The 21-year-old Aucklander has worked out that he will need that long to complete the 34 laps of the New Zealand Grand Prix at Teretonga on Sunday and he is determined to build his fitness for the race.

The Grand Prix may have slipped from the days when it was won by Formula One greats such as Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren and Jackie Stewart. But this year the venerable race makes its debut with the new Toyota Tatuus car and a new generation is keen to make its mark.

Gaunt, who leads the championship after two rounds, knows he is in for a battle to come out on top.

"Obviously, it's going to be one of the hardest races of the season," he said. "It's the one everyone will be going all out for.

"In the usual 15-lap and 20-lap races it can get a bit boring. Everything happens at the start and then it settles down.

"In Formula One things happen at the start, it settles down and then it all happens again towards the end and I think our Grand Prix will be like that with some safety car periods."

The Grand Prix looks good on a driver's CV and Gaunt and several others are keen to have this boost to their plans to seek sponsorship for a campaign overseas.

Gaunt's aim is the reborn Toyota Atlantic class in the United States.

He has always struggled for funds but has still built up an impressive record. He won the Australian Formula 4000 championship in 2003 and the following year took the Lady Wigram Trophy at Christchurch in a one-off drive in a Formula Three car.

The competition on Sunday will be fierce. Late entrants for the race include James Cressey, a former Formula Ford champion, who has been campaigning a Porsche GT-3 in Australia, and former Hamilton kart star Chris Van Der Drift.

In 2004 Van Der Drift joined a Formula BMW racing team in Europe managed by former Formula One world champion - and New Zealand Grand Prix champion in 1977 and 1978 - Keke Rosberg.

Van Der Drift has been fourth in the European Formula BMW championship for the past two years and will contest the German Formula Renault championship next season.

Palmerston North whiz kid Brendon Hartley is on a break from his duties with the Red Bull junior team in Europe and rejoins the series for the first time. US-based Briton Jay Howard is back after missing the Ruapuna round and Hamad Al Farden from Bahrain continues to improve.

But the men to beat may be six-time national kart champion Matthew Hamilton, who has been consistently quick but out of luck with reliability, and Christchurch driver Andy Knight, who was beaten by 200ths of a second by veteran Kenny Smith when the Grand Prix was run in Formula Fords two years ago.

In its more than 50 years the New Zealand Grand Prix has been won by Royal Prince Bira of Thailand, Formula One world champions Brabham, Stewart, Rosberg and Graham Hill, the only man to win world titles on two wheels and four John Surtees, two-time world touring car champion Paul Radisich and four-time Bathurst 1000 winner Greg Murphy.

The only driver to have won the race three times in a row, Kiwi Craig Baird, who will be driving in a support race on Sunday, has no doubt about its value.

"The Grand Prix is still the most prestigious race to win in New Zealand and a good one to have on my CV. The race is one that is recognised by everybody so will always have a significant importance. I think allocating it to the Toyota Series is a step forward and will generate interest from Australia over the next couple of years. I'd even like a go in one myself."