The Pivot

I never saw the like. The first motor race I watched live and trackside as media was the 1985 Benson and Hedges 500 at Pukekohe. Ray 'what briefcase' Smith and Denny sharing a gold Holden. Sunburn, leggy young ladies in short (short) shorts, sunhats and filmy blouse things. A classic (horrible) Pukekohe hotdog (cure for constipation!). We travelled there and back in my mate Daine's green and silver 240Z. Bit of a perfect day really. There have been a fair few races flit past the lens of my SLR since then. But this weekend I saw the race of races. I watched speechless as Shane van Gisbergen won the 66 th New Zealand Grand Prix in a storming drive from from dead-last in pit lane to a 2.2 second lead at the flag. The NZ Motor Cup becomes his first trophy of 2021, coming on the heels of his 2020 Bathurst 1000 win, a class win in the Rally of Auckland and the outright win at the inaugural Battle of Jacks Ridge late last year. The 2016 Supercars champion had won the first t

LIVING THE DREAM "Not many people can say they have driven an F1 car. But Christchurch's Marcus Armstrong can. The 20-year-old motor racing driver was given the chance to test drive Ferrari's 2018 F1 car yesterday as part of Ferrari's season opening testing at the famed Fiorano track in Maranello, Italy. Armstrong jumped at the opportunity and said it was "fulfilling a childhood dream". "Since I was a young boy this has been a dream. "It's the start of a process and I'm massively grateful just to get the opportunity. "Not many racing drivers get to drive an F1 car so experience is super valued and extremely vital." Armstrong, an F2 driver recently joined team DAMS for the upcoming season set to commence in March, but hoped to find himself behind the wheel of an F1 car again soon.

ARMSTRONG FULFILS A LIFELONG DREAM WITH FERRARI F1 TEST  New Zealand driver Marcus Armstrong ticked off a lifelong dream in late January when he was one of seven drivers invited to test a 2018 car for Scuderia Ferrari. The Kiwi is the first NZ driver ever to join the Ferrari Driver Academy and is the first to test for Ferrari since the days of Chris Amon. “This has been my dream ever since I can remember. First, to test in an F1 car and second to do so for Ferrari. It’s been an amazing experience. Obviously it’s so very fast, but also the team operation is incredible.” Under category rules driver prospects are not allowed to test in more recent machinery. Armstrong has also confirmed he will switch to the French DAMS team for the FIA Formula 2 season, which starts at Bahrain next month. The 2021 FIA Formula 2 season starts at Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit on March 27 and 28. There are three races in each event this year, and eight events in total. All F2 races are at Formula 1

  Strange days in interesting times. The F3 'Asia' Championship doesn't happen in Asia this year, instead bouncing between circuits in the Arab nations.  Then the start of the series gets bumped back, presumably because of Covid concerns. Now Guan You Zhou is doing Asia F3???? Like Mitch Evans' team mate Artem Markelov coming to New Zealand to do TRS from his GP2 gig that time, or what?     Official Prema media release: "Abu Dhabi Racing by PREMA is delighted to announce the team’s line-up for the upcoming F3 Asian Championship, starting on January 29 and 30 at Dubai Autodrome. Guan Yu Zhou will enter the full championship, the Chinese racer making a welcome return to the team. Zhou raced with PREMA Powerteam in the Italian Formula 4 Championship and Formula 3 European Championship, emerging as a highly competitive contender. As previously announced, Dino Beganovic will share one car with his Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine team-mate David Vidale

  My favourite event in all of racing and rallying is happening right now in the searing wastes of off-highway Saudi Arabia: the Dakar. It's mad. Hammering flat out across dunes, down 'roads', over huge distances, for days at a time. The motorsport equivalent of the Tour de France. It nearly didn't happen though. The organisers have revealed how close the race came to being stymied by fell victim to 'The Covid'. Like so many others. Saudi Arabia announced the closure of its land, sea and air borders just 13 days before the start of the second Dakar in the Arabian Peninsula, responding to the new more virulent strain of Covid that is running rampant in Britain and has since spread to other countries. You can imagine - that set off all the alarms at organiser Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). But, in the face of the restrictions imposed by Saudi Arabia to limit the spread of COVID-19, ASO chartered 18 flights to get officials, crew and competitors to the event.