Jono Lester's Blog Chasing the Endurance Racing dream…

A Wet Weekend at Manfeild

The lead up to the penultimate round of the 2008/09 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge had me quite excited.

After four weekends in a row of competition back to back in January, the idea of a month off seemed a little surreal. Getting back to my home circuit was always that little bit more special than the rest.

Historically I?ve always had rotten luck and tough results at Manfeild, and this year was unfortunately no different, however it?s still hands down the best circuit in New Zealand to race on. Nothing else comes close.

I made the road-trip down to Friendly Feilding with my team mate Mark Russ; the weather hot and sunny - nothing like the projected forecast for the weekend. We got through Friday practice in the dry but the rain was threatening in the afternoon, and it was a mixed day on the track also.

I completed the first test session happy with the car and right at the pointy end of the field, but was unable to continue the form in the second due to a clutch and flywheel issue. The team at International Motorsport worked well into the evening to ensure everything was as it should be, and with the storm clouds looming we ensured the wet tyres were ready and waiting for Saturday.

As expected, Saturday morning dawned wet, and the rest of the weekend followed suit. Qualifying was tough with a lengthy yellow flag period taking up much of the second half of the session, and on a track that seemed to be gripping up as it progressed, I was only able to post the sixth quickest time.

The opening race was under heavy rain and the spray was unbelievable. The lack of visibility was extreme at the best of times, but even so, the racing was closely fought and by the finish I had made my way into fourth place.

The second race wasn?t so good, and I was caught up in the hustle and bustle of the opening lap and squeezed off the track exiting the hairpin. Having dropped to eighth place I worked my way back to sixth quickly and spent the rest of it probing the cars in front. The car was phenomenal on brakes but the only passing opportunities were - as you?d expect - around the outside and, though it wasn?t for lack of trying, sixth place was the end result.

The real talking point of the weekend (and the reason I?ve been a little reserved until now) was the reverse grid final race. I had pole position but I chose to relinquish it on the warm up lap along with my team mates Jody Vincent and Mark Russ, to pit and change for wet tyres.

With a new rule passing tyre choice onto the competitors and effectively removing the wet track/dry track scenario we?ve seen for a number of years, the three of us took the big gamble with the rain beginning to come down.

For the first few laps this seemed to be the wrong call. The cars on slicks were just as quick as we were, and at one stage they began to close the gap that would have seen me lapped by the leaders. That was until the mid-way point, when the heavens opened and it really began bucketing down onto the track. This was my chance and the early judgement call proved perfect. As cars slid off the track around me I knew that a win was a possibility.

With five laps remaining I?d made my way up to eighth and half the field had decided to pit for wet tyres. Only seconds later one of the most bizarre decisions I?ve ever seen was made by the officials, and the race was both red flagged and chequered flagged at the same time, concluding the race and leaving Mark, Jody and I in a state of bewilderment.

The track was supposedly ?too dangerous? to race on, however the V8 race that followed was staged in even worse conditions and their usual carnage ensued. Even so, this race was red flagged and resumed at a later point, but the Porsche race was not.

We really did feel ?robbed? by this decision and I?ve lost most of what little faith I had in the system, and as we have no right to protest the result, but only the judgement/decision, there will of course be no backlash and we will just have to shut up and get on with it.

This result has made the task of securing the final championship podium spot a lot tougher, but I won?t be giving up with Pukekohe next weekend - I?ve had a good run there in the past and there?s no reason why it can?t happen again.

The weather could and probably will play a part, so let?s just wait and see.

Until then, take care everyone! Remember to visit jonolester.com.

Jono

January?s ?Month of Motorsport?

Hi all, It's been quite some time since my last blog post, so there's a fair bit to catch up on!

I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year break with friends and family before rocking into a solid month of motorsport right across January, with a triple header in the Porsche and my debut race in the Juno SSE-NZ sports car to round it off.

First on the agenda was a return to Timaru. Last time I lapped here my season ended in the back on an ambulance, and while this time around it wasn't quite as dramatic, I still had to fight for results as has so often become the case in this season's Porsche series.

Much like at Ruapuna I was on the receiving end of the officialdom early on, being thrown off the back of the grid for the race one after "breaking traction" as I exited pit lane during qualifying, effectively ruining our chances there and then.

The weekend itself was a downhill ride with a sharp spike at the finish. I quickly made my way into eighth in race one before suffering a DNF when two cars made contact in front of me and a concertina effect ensued, damaging my radiator and forcing me to shut the car down.

The second race was slightly better and, starting from eleventh, I passed a number of cars in the opening laps to latch onto the leading train in sixth spot, where I finished, but it was the feature race where we regained some lost momentum.

Starting in third, I made a solid start and followed David Reynolds through on Daniel Gaunt part-way through the race. Reynolds had incredible pace and I was able to latch onto him and pull a small gap on Baird in third, before succumbing to my tyres and settling for second position. A great recovery, nonetheless.

Unfortunately this was as good as the South Island got, as the next weekend in Invercargill was a real battle. I got very little testing with a clutch problem and qualified very averagely, and the opening race, held in the twilight on Saturday evening, was a nightmare.

I made the call to start the race on wet tyres with changeable weather hampering the day's proceeding, but it proved to be the wrong choice, and I finished three laps down on the leaders after having to pit, like a number of my team mates, part-way through the 30-lap race.

I finished in sixth in race two from grid nine, and started off the front row for the feature race. After being hit off the track on the opening lap I dropped to sixth where once again I finished to round off a harsh weekend for my points situation. I had now dropped to fourth overall.

A quick visit to Dr. Kerry Spackman on my arrival home helped me put my mind back on track, and at the Taupo A1GP the following weekend the driving followed suit.

It was great to get back onto the Taupo track in awesome weather conditions, and with Matt Halliday as my co-driver to offer setup advice and a very fast and experienced pair of hands, the stage was set for a great event.

Both Matt and I headed our respective practice and qualifying session, where I set the fastest lap time of the weekend outright, in preparation for a sprint race each, and two 50-minute, two-driver endurance races to spice up proceedings on both Saturday and Sunday.

I made a great getaway in the opening race before breaking the left-rear concentric arm on the opening lap. The car became highly unstable, especially down the straights and under brakes, and my lap times dropped off by around four seconds a lap, however I kept at it (albeit carefully) to take third position and keep our hopes alive for the first enduro.

This proved to be a fairytale, as Matt conserved his tyres amicably in his opening stint, and a tremendous pit stop by the International Motorsport crew put us out around 15 seconds ahead of Jonny Reid in second.

In the following laps I stretched this out to twenty nine seconds, which became twenty four as we crossed the finish line after Matt was deemed to have crept at the start of the race.

In a similar scenario to Saturday's events, Matt struggled to second behind Shane van Gisbergen in the morning sprint, but once again the endurance race went 100% according to plan.

The battle between Matt, Jody Vincent and van Gisbergen in the opening laps was scintillating, with the trio rarely covered by more than a handkerchief, but once again our pit stop work put us out over ten second in front, and I led the field home by seventeen seconds for the second win from two.

It was a tremendous weekend and a credit to the work put in by both Matt and I and the whole team behind the scenes, and I speak for many when I say it would be really great to see more of this format of racing in the championship proper in the future.

Returning to Taupo once again the following weekend, I was behind the wheel of the Juno SSE-NZ sportscar I was testing in the run up to Christmas.

The car was entered in the New Zealand Sports Car Series, where 25-cars of all varieties, including a handful of Radicals and another Juno, but it was the day glow orange Juno that set the pace.

I put the car on pole by quite a margin and won the first two races of the weekend by thirty two and twenty three seconds respectively. The car really is quite something and the use of ground effects and proper downforce make it really exciting to drive.

The final race was a reverse grid handicap, and I started in pit lane about a lap and a half down on the leaders. In the six laps I had I clawed up to eleventh spot, within two corners of the winners, and capped off a great weekend to showcase the talents and potential of the Juno cars.

After a month away my fitness has taken a bit of a hit, but the wonderful weather has meant that alternative training (such as getting dragged behind a boat at breakneck speed!) is making up a good part of my days and summer can stay for the rest of the year in my opinion.

Manfeild's next up in three weekend's time. A return to my other home track will be great. I have a good feeling about it.

Until then, take care everyone! And remember to visit www.jonolester.com!

Jono

Heading South…

Hi all,

Here in lies the first of four weeks of non-stop motorsport - what a way to see in the New Year!

Though this blog post is brief, it?s still significant - when you hear from me next, it will be either highlighting the successes I have come to achieve, or the disappointments that held me back along the way.

First up is Timaru - both my best and worst track on the calendar. While I won my first Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge race there in 2007, I also broke my leg there in March of 2008. Highs and low, but a score to settle for sure, and going on my speed there last season I?m confident we can go well.

Further south we then head to Invercargill?s Teretonga Park; the southernmost race circuit in the world and the last city before you reach Antarctica. Even so, the weather we often meet there is scorching hot, and it?s a great circuit with the most exciting first corner in New Zealand. I?ve also tasted podium success there, so another one I?m certainly looking forward to.

Though it?s still unknown whether I?ll race at the Taupo A1GP on the third consecutive weekend, I will still be there regardless to witness my first glimpse of the amazing new Ferrari-powered cars. Being a non-championship event for us, we need to weigh up whether it?s worth competing, but it could go either way.

I?ll be at Taupo once again the following weekend behind the wheel of the Juno SSC-NZ sportscar I?ve been testing and developing over the past couple of months. It?s a ?low key? event but still a great chance to showcase the engineering underneath the striking day glow orange bodywork.

So, wish me luck and see you at the finish line.

A Happy New Year to all,

Jono.

Ruapuna Round Up

Hi all, a slightly longer one today.

There aren't many events that I could put on a similar pedestal to my horror weekend at Timaru earlier this year, but Ruapuna came pretty close.

There was no damage, no broken bones; no looks of scorn or resentment aimed in my direction - but we felt well and truly robbed. After such an awesome start at Pukekohe a few weeks before, to see round two pan out the way it did was a real shock to the system.

The weekend was always going to be an uphill sprint after troubles in testing, but we soldiered on nonetheless. What we lacked on Friday we found in qualifying as I put the car on the second row alongside Daniel Gaunt, but even then there was something not quite right; a mysterious fuel surge issue that would pop up at random intervals and cause me to second guess whether it was all in my head. At this stage, it wasn't that noticeable, but it would only get worse as we rolled into racing.

My biggest handicap in race one was not the car but a drive through penalty I was slapped with at the mid way point. Up until then I had been in a battle with the front pack of cars, tucked in behind Jody Vincent, who I got past before having to serve my penalty and rejoin to finish eighth.

I was deemed to be using more road than any other car on the circuit (taking a "shortcut") yet, looking at the footage, every other driver out there was running in the wheel tracks of those around them. Our questioning of the penalty wasn?t an excuse to whinge - more a question of why one driver should be singled out or made an example of.

This issue aside, we still had two more races to get through, and in the second I didn't fare much better, running in the front pack of cars before the car began coughing and dying far more severely than it had in qualifying. As the cars in front edged away, I was left to pick up the pieces in seventh spot, where I would start for the feature race finale.

It started well. I made a superb start and jumped into the top five by turn one, and after the banging and crashing and jostling had subsided found myself in second, chasing down David Reynolds in the lead.

The car felt sweet; no hiccups, no lack of power - nothing. I began closing in lap by lap and maintaining the gap to Craig Baird in behind until the ghost appeared for another spooking.

For five to six laps the problem got progressively worse with the sensation of turning off the key, then turning it back on again as I exited medium-speed corners. The gap to Reynolds grew to over five seconds, and by that stage Bairdo had passed me also. Settled into third I was instructed to "bring her home", which I did, but when the fuel pressure zeroed itself on nearly every corner on the final lap, I was just worried about getting to the finish line!

Low and behold I managed to bag enough points to finish just off the podium in fourth for the round, which was a nice consolation for a weekend of frustration.

The underlying issue with the car - whatever it is - will, as always, turn out to be something simple and straightforward. This is a Porsche we are talking about after all!

There's six weeks to regroup and ensure the car is right for Timaru, so on a more positive note, I was able to take time out to hang with a few of the Project KPH kids at Ruapuna, as I did at Pukekohe, showing them through the car and making sure the brave little battlers had a great day out. Leah Evans does a great job with the organisation and is deserved of any support that can be offered. Check out Project KPH here.

Also, we won the Hyper Stimulator Enduro! It was a long race, (24 hours in fact) around Bathurst in the Audi R8 Prototypes, but Alastair Wootten, Gene Rollinson and I took it out, albeit by less than a lap! We had stiff competition from the Hyper Stimulator League car throughout and it was a fun event - one that I'd certainly consider doing again if more drivers were involved for added competition.

Before I sign off for, if you've missed any of the action from the Pukekohe round of the GT3s, or the early races at Ruapuna, you can check them out at TVNZ On Demand here right throughout the championship.

Remember to visit jonolester.com.

Keep safe and see you at the track,

Jono

A winning start

It's been quite a week.

The opening round of the 2008/09 Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge was just as I'd expected in that the competition was tough; the stakes high and the need for perfection and attention to detail an absolute necessity. Any slip ups and you were out the back door.

For me it was a pretty good ride. To state the obvious, the weekend began on Friday with two pre-qualifying runs to sort out the cars and get back into a groove. On the day I was the only driver to dip under the 58 second barrier and I thought to myself "hey, we might be onto something here."

Qualifying wasn't quite as blistering but still a real nail biter, as Craig Baird, David Reynolds and I sat on the same lap time - 57.6 seconds - for much of the session. When we all pitted for new tyres, it was the XXX pairing who were able to slightly better their times, while I held onto third place.

The first of the three races was relatively straightforward with the only real action coming at the first corner where I hung myself on the outside of Reynolds for second place. The marbles and slippery stuff meant I had to retreat and be sensible, and the front two pulled a small gap which, once everything settled down, they held until the flag. A podium start - not bad.

Race two was also largely uneventful for me as I struggled somewhat with a small imbalance in the car setup. I lost out to my team mate Jody Vincent off the start line and he claimed the final podium spot while I took fourth, however my mind was firmly fixed on the grid for the final race, and by virtue of reversing the top six laptimes I lined up on the front row beside my former team mate Daniel Gaunt.

The 16 lap feature race would require a slight setup revision to accommodate for the extra length, and we made a few extra little tweaks anyway to try and tighten the jigger up and make it a bit more responsive.

We had to run single file through the first corner because of the permanent yellow flag hung out there after the NZV8 pile up, so once things settled down I realised how good the car was and began scoping out Daniel ahead of me for any weaknesses.

I seemed to have small advantages everywhere but with Bairdo closing in behind I had to be proactive, so after a good run I made a fairly drastic move around the outside into the hairpin, slotted into line and led the field out of the corner. Even I was surprised as to how instinctively and suddenly it happened, but my next issue was Mr. Baird in behind.

With five laps remaining I found myself in a similar situation to Timaru last year, but I was determined to focus ahead and run my own race. Not getting intimidated by Craig was the biggest obstacle, but even with a lot of pressure in the closing laps I crossed the line yelling with joy and really satisfied with what I'd just achieved.

It was my third Porsche win, but in reality it was my first - I'd beaten the Baird fair and square.

Second for the weekend capped off a great event and special mentions must go to International Motorsport, all my sponsors, Grant Smith, the Giltrap family and my own family for making round one a real cracker. Now we must do it all again.

This weekend I'll be competing in a 24 Hour Hyper Stimulator Endurance Race at Big Boys Toys at the ASB Showgrounds in Ellerslie, Auckland. My training partner (and TRS racer) Alastair Wootten, Production Series Racer Gene Rollinson and I will make up the drivers team, while a TV3 media car and numerous punter's cars will join us for the event. A whole day and night of Bathurst in an Audi R8 Le Mans Prototype. Should be a blast!

Also, the Part One video of the Superlap Taupo event, in which I piloted both EVO88U and the Cheapskates Toyota Supra, is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23z32MPsOCk.

Remember to visit the new jonolester.com!

Keep it on the black stuff,

Jono