The Iveco Racing Team goes into this weekend’s third round of the New Zealand Production Motoring Racing Series leading its class in their Alfa Romeo 147 GTA and, after spending the holiday break fettling its Italian thoroughbred, they are promising to take the battle to the series leaders in Christchurch.

The Iveco Alfa 147 GTA is the only European car in the field and it is promising to provide an exciting addition to what should be an eventful weekend’s racing. The Japanese entrant's boast more power with their standard turbocharged engines, while the Alfa promises to challenge them due to their superior braking abilities that enable the GTA to out-brake its rivals in corners and provide more stability.

“We are currently placed eighth in a field of fourteen competitors, and are running first in our class. The car has been re-tuned over the Christmas and New Year break, and is running really well. So we are expecting to up the odds this weekend and give those Subarus a run for their money,” says Alfa GTA driver Chris Barry.

Round three of the New Zealand Production Motor Racing Series will takes place at Ruapuna Park in Christchurch.
 

The New Zealand Production Motor Racing series was developed by Motorsport New Zealand for the 04/05 motor racing season with the view to becoming a popular public event.

Designed to allow showroom standard performance vehicles to compete within a recognised national racing series, the philosophy was to provide an easy to enter race class, with simple technical specifications that remain cost effective for all participants.

Vehicles eligible for this series are categorised by their engine capacity: 0-2000cc (normally aspirated), 2001-3500cc (normally aspirated) and 0-2000cc (turbocharged).

“The introduction of a series such as this allows for not only an affordable means to race in a recognised competition, but it also allows for the public to truly identify with the vehicles they see on the track” says Iveco Racing Team Driver Chris Barry.

“We expect the public popularity of this series will grow exponentially as it becomes more well-known” says Chris.

The field for the 04/05 series consists of five turbocharged Subaru WRX and STI models, two Mitsubishi Evo models, two Honda Integra Type R models and the Iveco Alfa Romeo 147 GTA.