Dusty South Island debut for Supercars at Ruapuna

Supercars has expanded its New Zealand swing into a doubleheader this year with its first visit to the South Island at Ruapuna, near Christchurch. Apparently, this track is officially named Euromarque Motorsport Park, but I watched practically the entire weekend’s broadcast and did not hear that name mentioned even a single time.

This event had to ingest a fourth race from the preceding round at Taupō, where the Sunday race was canceled due to looming cyclone. Combined with a technical track that these cars (and most of the drivers) had never raced at before and majorly dusty conditions, it made for an epic but grueling event.

Perhaps it’s unsurprising, then, that the team that dominated Ruapuna was Penrite Racing, winners of last year’s Biblical Bathurst 1000. Matt Payne won the last two races with Kiwi pride, and Kai Allen won the first. Brodie Kostecki won the second, so he remains a force to be reckoned with. Tragically, Ryan Wood was moments away from winning the JR Trophy as a symbolic triumph for New Zealand motorsports when his car gave up the ghost, handing it to Broc Feeney, who was consistent every race in New Zealand despite not winning any of them. Even he said he was “gutted” for Woody, though, as the trophy slipped from the young Kiwi hero’s grasp through no fault of his own.

Also of note right at the end was a fairly insane move Chaz Mostert made on Brodie Kostecki that sent him spiraling off into the dust. The defending champion was duly penalized.

Christchurch seems like an amazing city for a race meeting, and the people showed up in force. All the Supercars people reported having a great time around town. Ruapuna made a great addition to the calendar, and it made the New Zealand leg of the Supercars tour even stronger.