Supercars legend Ingall to be among stars at Taupo Historic GP
Supercars legend Ingall to be among stars at Taupo Historic GP
TWO-TIME Bathurst 1000 winner and 2005 V8 Supercars Champion Russell Ingall is heading back to New Zealand to appear at the Taupo Historic GP at Taupo Motorsport Park in January 2025.
‘The Enforcer’ of Aussie V8 Supercars racing, Ingall will be one of a range of motorsport stars attending the event on January 11/12 next year.
The 2025 event will be a celebration of all things Ford and Formula Atlantics with tickets on sale here now for the event (kids 16 and under are free), which will feature a range of star drivers and cars to be on hand, more of which will be confirmed in upcoming weeks and months.
A Ford All-Comers field race will be a highlight alongside show and shines, demo laps, and the chance for fans to rub shoulders with Ford-associated celebrities who will be cutting laps and hosting meet-and-greets with fans throughout the event.
Ingall, who won the Bathurst 1000 in 1995 and 1997, competed full-time in V8 Supercars from 1996 to 2014.
He raced for Ford between 2003 and 2007 for the Stone Brothers Racing team owned by Kiwis Ross and Jim Stone.
Ingall’s Ford ties go all the way back to his junior open wheeler days when he won the Australian Formula Ford Championship in 1990 and the British Formula Ford Championship in 1993.
But he’s also no stranger to racing open wheelers in New Zealand, having raced in the NZ Formula Ford Championship summer series at the end of 1992/start of 1993 that supported the Atlantic cars racing in what was then known as the Peter Jackson International Series.
“I love the Kiwi culture of having a strong variety of open wheeler categories, just look at how many drivers it’s developed over the years,” Ingall says.
“Racing a Van Diemen Formula Ford in the summer series in New Zealand in 1992/93 was a real blast and took us from the North Island to the South Island, so I got to see the Atlantic cars up close that summer, which was the year Jos Verstappen raced them in New Zealand.
“Hopefully someone sticks me into one of their Atlantics in January at Taupo, I’d love to have a go. I never drove one back in the period. I did a bit of everything else – Formula 3000, Formula 3, Vauxhall Lotus, Formula Renault and Formula Ford, but never an Atlantic.
“This year will be the first time I’ve been to the Historic GP at Taupo. I’ve heard a lot about it from my Kiwi mates, so I’m keen to come and check it out in January.”
In addition to the celebrations of Ford and Formula Atlantics, the Historic GP will feature a variety of other historic categories that are being invited to compete, including saloon cars, muscle cars, touring cars and Formula 5000.
The Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship will be joining the event as a nod to the future as the iconic cars and stars of the past are remembered and celebrated.
