The closely matched Suzuki Swift Sport Cup challengers will race at the V8 Supercars meeting on the streets of Hamilton this weekend for the first time.
“Acceptance of the Swifts at this major international motor race meeting is a further step up for the growing one-make class,” said Darren Stevens, motorsport manager for Suzuki New Zealand.
“The standard of racing in the Swift Sport Cup Championship has continued to improve as has the spectacle of the fiercely competitive racing. This is reflected in the Swifts becoming part of the programme for the high profile Hamilton event,” he said.
While the 2009/2010 Swift Sport Cup Championship concluded just a few weeks earlier in Taupo, the pressure is on to perform well before a large crowd at the televised Hamilton street race.
Three Swift races are scheduled, all eight laps long, with two events on Saturday, April 17, and one race in the afternoon on the Sunday. All three will be part of the Hamilton street race TV package.
The challenging circuit will be a new venue for almost all of the Swift drivers, but a good line-up of cars is already assured for the Waikato meeting. Matt Gibson, the 2009-2010 Castrol Swift Sport Scholarship winner, will be among the field when the cars grid up.
Gibson has also confirmed he plans to buy the car he raced this year with the intention of entering the 2010-2011 Championship.
“The racing is so close and I learned so much from this season that coming back is definitely where I want to be for next season.”
The Wanganui 18-year-old started and finished the 2009-2010 Championship with race wins and finished fourth overall. The Championship was won outright by another Wanganui driver, William Bamber.
Plans are already under way for the Swift Sport Cup series to continue next season for the fourth successive summer, once again using New Zealand’s top selling supermini.
With rigid rules that guarantee no car has a power advantage and a philosophy that the driver matters rather than the size of an entrant’s budget, the Swift Sport Cup is an ideal stepping stone into motor racing.
“There is no doubt the Swifts have provided some of the best national racing over the summer, and the appearance of the Suzukis at Hamilton will provide even more people with an insight into this class,” said Darren Stevens.
