After a tense final hour, Smeg Racing's Simon Evans and Gene Rollinson have won the opening three-hour race of the 2017 ENEOS North Island Endurance Series at Taupo.
The pair lead the majority of the race, but had to fend off a hard charging Trass Family Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3, driven by Daniel Gaunt. Heavy rain dotted throughout the race also played its part in the various strategies throughout the field.
The former Supercars Championship pilot had taken over his TFM machine from co-driver Sam Fillmore while more than a lap behind the race leaders. But soon began to charge down Simon Evans with an hour left to go.
In the dry, Gaunt appeared to have Evans' measure, and it looked like his 40-second deficit would slowly but surely whittle down to nothing. However, rain arrived at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park with half an hour to go; forcing everyone to shuffle once again - both lead teams, along with many others, pitting for wet tyres.
