Last weekend’s round of the South Island Endurance Series in Invercargill ended in drama, with three-hour endurance race winners Damon Leitch and Tony Quinn (Aston Martin) disqualified after Leitch gave his brother’s Mercedes a helping nudge with this car to make it across the line. The Leitch/Quinn Aston headed Audi R8 duo Neil Foster and Jonny Reid to take the chequered flag, but as he completed his slow-down lap, Leitch came across his brother’s Mercedes-Benz SLS stranded out of fuel just short of the finish line and in third place. So, unwisely as it turned out, he used the Aston Martin to give the Mercedes the push it needed to coast over the line. Both cars were subsequently disqualified, handing the win to Foster and Reid, with Dwayne Carter/Shane Hodgson second in their Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 and George McFarlane/Jack Millig (Porsche 997) third. Ben Byers and Jaxon Evans were fourth in their Audi, with Scott O’Donnell and Allan Dippie fifth.North Island Endurance Series Champions John McIntyre and Simon Gilbertson, in a SaReNi Camaro, were eliminated on Friday when their car was damaged after brake failure. In the earlier one-hour race Dunedin’s Chris Henderson in his highly-modified Toyota AE86 V8 was victorious over the more glamorous supercars. He started the race from pole position, leading away from the O’Donnell/Dippie Porsche 997 Cup S to take the win.
