The 1999 New Zealand Grand Prix event for open wheel racing cars was held at Ruapana Park near Christchurch on 6 December 1999. It was the forty-fifth New Zealand Grand Prix and was open to Formula Holden cars.
The event was won by Simon Wills for the second consecutive time. Likewise, Scott Dixon claimed second place, as he did in the previous years event. Matt Halliday rounded out the podium driving for Challenge Racing.
Race report Heading into the weekend, Wills and Dixon were regarded as the favourites, although the added presence of Craig Lowndes added intrigue to the marquee event. However, the three-time V8 Supercar champion encountered engine problems throughout practice. It wouldn't be until the latter stages of practice where these issues were at least partially rectified. Other drivers encountering engine issues were Andy Booth and Ian Peters.
Dixon qualified on pole position for the preliminary race, with he and Wills being the only drivers to set times in the 1:16 bracket. Pole position for the Grand Prix went to Wills after Dixon encountered a CV joint failure and was forced to start from fourth on the grid. Halliday was forced to abandon a late push lap after running off the road on a slow-down lap, damaging the radiators and forcing him into the pitlane. Wills' teammate, Brenton Ramsay, would take second in the session to make it an all-Birrana Racing front row for the Grand Prix.
Disaster struck early for Kevin Bell as the local driver was forced to withdraw after writing off his Reynard 91D in a self-inflicted crash in the warmup. In the preliminary race, Dixon led away at the start from Wills. On the next tour around, Wills attempted an overtake on his fellow Aucklander down into turn one. The pair collided and Dixon was sent into a spin. Dixon retreated to the pits and would eventually finish the race eleventh and two laps down. From that point on, Wills remained unchallenged to the flag and took the preliminary race win. A safety car was brought out midway through the race as Booth's stranded car was recovered. Down the pack, Lowndes squabbled with Halliday over the podium positions until the former was caught out by a backmarker and sent down the order. Ramsay held station to take second place despite an enormous amount of pressure put on by Halliday and Jason Liefting.
Along with Bell, Dean Cockerton and Mark Ellis withdrew from the event preceding the Grand Prix. Wills led the field away from the line and an incident caused by Christian Murchison at the hairpin allowed the likes of Wills, Halliday and Dixon to breakaway from the field immediately. Murchison received a drive-through penalty for his misdemeanor. Dixon passed Halliday for second place on lap two and set off for Wills in hot pursuit. Immediately however, it was apparent that the Birrana racer was in a class of one that day. The gap never dipping under the three second bracket and the pair left to negotiate a lonely, processional race. Unbeknownst to the watching public, an array of cars were experiencing issues. Dixon's car suffered an intermittent misfire with faulty electrics. Although he conceded that Wills would have been nigh on impossible to catch and overtake regardless. Halliday's front wing had worked its way loose at some point during the race, drastically reducing the downforce on his car. Nevertheless, the youngster was able to bring his Challenge Racing car home in third. Liefting's car meanwhile was experiencing overheating issues and drastically reduced its power down the straights. Crowd favourite Lowndes came home a disappointing eighth while 17-year old prospect Paul Dumbrell finished an admirable sixth.
Classification Qualifying Pos No. Driver Team Time Grid 1 8 Simon Wills Birrana Racing 1:16.587 1 2 9 Brenton Ramsay Birrana Racing 1:16.974 2 3 12 Matt Halliday Challenge Racing 1:17.161 3 4 35 Scott Dixon SH Racing 1:17.373 4 5 25 Jason Liefting NRC International 1:17.428 5 6 75 Andy Booth Hocking Motorsport 1:17.647 6 7 11 Craig Lowndes Challenge Racing 1:17.933 7 8 7 Paul Dumbrell Wynns Racing 1:17.985 8 9 10 Kevin Bell ENZED Racing 1:18.793 9 10 74 Yudai Igarashi Hocking Motorsport 1:18.993 10 11 66 Peter Hill Greg Murphy Racing 1:19.705 11 12 69 Daynom Templeman Greg Murphy Racing 1:19.797 12 13 24 Ian Peters Peters Racing 1:20.844 13 14 15 Les Crampton 1:20.899 14 15 8 Dean Cockerton 1:21.660 15 16 17 Mark Ellis 1:21.688 16 17 40 Stan Redman 1:22.616 17 18 28 Roger Oakeshott 1:23.555 18 19 18 Jim Turnbull 1:28.758 19 20 25 Christian Murchison 1:30.853 20 Source(s):
Race Pos No. Driver Team Laps Time Grid 1 8 Simon Wills Birrana Racing 34 43min 47.174sec 1 2 35 Scott Dixon SH Racing 34 + 8.593 4 3 12 Matt Halliday Challenge Racing 34 + 25.533 2 4 25 Jason Liefting NRC International 34 + 36.176 5 5 9 Brenton Ramsay Birrana Racing 34 + 1:11.852 2 6 7 Paul Dumbrell Wynns Racing 33 + 1 lap 8 7 24 Ian Peters Peters Racing 33 + 1 lap 8 11 Craig Lowndes Challenge Racing 33 + 1 lap 9 25 Christian Murchison 33 + 1 lap 10 15 Les Crampton 33 + 1 lap 11 69 Daynom Templeman Greg Murphy Racing 32 + 2 laps 12 40 Stan Redman 31 + 3 laps 13 18 Jim Turnbull 30 + 4 laps 14 28 Roger Oakeshott 29 + 5 laps Ret 75 Andy Booth Hocking Motorsport 29 Retired Ret 74 Yudai Igarashi Hocking Motorsport 8 Retired Ret 66 Peter Hill Greg Murphy Racing 5 Retired DNS 10 Kevin Bell ENZED Racing 0 Warmup crash 9 DNS 8 Dean Cockerton 0 Did Not Start 15 DNS 17 Mark Ellis 0 Did Not Start 16 Fastest lap: Simon Wills (Brianna Racing) - 1:16.584 Source(s):
References