Steve Scoles, in his Ginetta G56 GT4 has had a successful 2023 season. Class Champion in the 2023 Carters Tyres South Island Endurance Series and a class win inaugural New Zealand Highlands 6 Hour Enduro celebrating the 10th year anniversary of the track.
His new Ginetta arrived January ’23, replacing his G55. Whilst the first event at Hampton Downs got off to a rocky start, Steve climbed from 14th in race 2, to 4th in race three. At the following event at Taupo Auto, Steve placed 7th in race one. He went on to secure two race wins. The final event at Manfield saw him recover from a DNF in race 1. He went from 11th in race 2 all the way to another win in race 3!
South Island Endurance Series
Steve’s next campaign saw him competing in 1 hour endurance races in the South Island Endurance Series.
Round 1 at Ruapuna Park was going well until a safety car thwarted his efforts putting him a lap down, yet still finishing on the podium in 3rd place. The following round at Teretonga Park saw Steve take 1st putting him in prime position to win the championship going into the final round at Levels Raceway.
Steve finished the final round securing 2nd place on track and 1st overall in the championship.
New Zealand Highlands 6 Hour Enduro
Tracktec Racing’s Steve Scoles joined Paul Blomqvist and Rowan Shepherd were victors of the GT4 Class in the Ginetta G56, finishing 11th overall after completing 208 laps.
A home advantage brought home the win for Steve Scoles, Paul Blomqvist, Rowan Shepherd and Track Tec Racing at Highlands inaugural 6 hour race.
Car owner and first driver in Scoles is based at Highlands, a stone’s throw from the track as is resident pro-driver Blomqvist. The car was prepared just 100m from the track at the Track Tec Racing workshop and so it was great to bring home the win!
Kicking off the race with a Le Mans start was Shepherd for the run with Scoles ready and waiting in the car. An uneventful first stint for Scoles handed the car over to Shepherd in third place after an hour and 40 minutes. With two of the cars in class having extended pitstops, Shepherd took the number 58 Ginetta to the top of the GT4 class handing over to Highlands resident driver Blomqvist and then back to Shepherd for the final stint bringing the car home in first place for the GT4s and 11th overall.
“Some days all the hardwork and preparation comes together. Today was one of those days” says Team Manager, Matt Waters. “The drivers did a great job driving a good clean race. The team in the pits executed the pitstops just as we had practised.”
