Angus Fogg hopes to keep far enough ahead of the chasing pack this weekend he won't get into trouble, after the series' leader crashed in the second race of the New Zealand V8s championship opening round.
Fogg holds a 12-point leader after the first of six rounds but badly damaged his Falcon during the second race at Pukekohe recently and wants to stay out of trouble this weekend in Ruapuna near Christchurch and keep ahead in his battle with Australian Jason Bargwanna.
"Jason Bargwanna will be red-hot because he's just finished a hard season of V8 Supercar racing,'' Fogg said. "Hopefully he won't have recovered 100 per cent from last Sunday's celebrations of finishing 22nd.''
Located 10km west of Christchurch city, the Ruapuna circuit's flat nature makes it great for spectators but tricky for drivers. At 3.33km in length, Fogg says its technical nature makes it hard one to get right.
"It rewards being aggressive yet being very precise,'' he said. "It's quite different for a North Island guy to go down to a track that has mainly left-hand corners. And there also seems to be a difference in the track surface composition which makes it interesting for car setup. The guys that have tested there usually go pretty well, so I imagine Bargwanna will be right on the pace.''
Qualifying begins on Saturday afternoon and the top-10 fastest cars then have a one-lap shootout to determine the final starting order for the afternoon 12-lap race. Sunday features a second 12-lap race with the top-10 grid reversed. The weekend finale is a 20-lap race from 4pm that includes a compulsory tyre change pit stop.
Standings in the V8s championship (after round one of six):
1. Angus Fogg, Birkenhead, 201
2. Paul Manuell, Pukekohe, 195 (not contesting any further rounds)
3. Jason Bargwanna, Australia, 189
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