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There’ll be a number of fresh new faces to go with a fresh new car when the Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship roars back into life at the beginning of November this year. New Zealand is the first country in the world to get to race the new 2008 version of Porsche’s 911 GT3 Cup Car, and behind the wheel will be the pick of the country’s current crop of fast-rising young drivers.
Leading the charge in the Giltrap Group’s own team car will be Aucklander Daniel Gaunt, 23, and joining him on the grid in their own brand new 2008 model year 997s will be Pukekohe 24-year-old Jody Vincent and 18-year-olds Jono Lester from Taupo and Ant Pedersen from Rotorua. Aucklanders Mark Russ, 21, and Tim Martin, 23, are also set to feature in existing 996-model GT3 Cup cars.
Daniel Gaunt moves up to the Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship after twice winning the Toyota Racing Series outright and winning New Zealand’s most prestigious single-seater prizes, the Lady Wigram Trophy (in 2004 and 2007) and the New Zealand Grand Prix (in 2007). The young Aucklander has also competed with success overseas, first in Australia in the Formula 4000 class and latterly in the United States in the Champ Car Atlantic and Indy Pro Series.
Meanwhile fellow former karter Jody Vincent returns for a second year in the Battery Town Challenge and a third year racing Porsche GT3 Cup cars as the most successful of the ‘class of 2006/07’ having finished second to Craig Baird. Vincent was a picture of speed and consistency last season, crossing the finishing line in second place five times and third place four times and earning a spot on the podium at five of the seven rounds.
Also making a big impression last season was the youngest driver competing in the category - here and by all accounts around the world - Jono  Lester.
The third-generation racer, son of Former Formula Atlantic racer Richard, nephew of former Formula Vee front-runner Debbie and grandson of long-time Manfeild circuit promoters Rob and Wendy Lester, made a seamless transition from small capacity single-seaters to a Porsche GT3 Cup car, finishing fourth in the overall series points standings behind Craig Baird, Jody Vincent and Matt Halliday. The undoubted highlight of his debut season however was his debut race win in the third race at the fifth round at Timaru.
Ant Pedersen’s is another familiar name, the 18-year-old kart-turned-car racer the son of long time NZV8s championship series front runner Paul Pedersen.
Ant - short for Anthony - got his competition career start on two wheels, competing with distinction in Junior Motocross before swapping to four wheels via karts three years ago. In those three years he quickly moved through the Junior ranks claiming a New Zealand Schools’ Championship title in the 125cc Rotax Max Light class before making his national motor racing debut in the MINI Challenge last season. It was very much a case of ‘like father, like son’ when he did too, proving immediately competitive and ending up fourth overall and first ‘rookie’ in the final MINI Challenge points.
 Mark Russ started karting at nine years of age and enjoyed a successful national career before winning the SpeedSport Scholarship and graduating to cars.
In his first year behind the wheel of the Scholarship Formula First he won the Rookie of the Year award and in his second  he won the New Zealand title outright, the only SpeedSport scholar to so far do this. Russ also won the nationally-televised Formula Challenge series before moving to the Toyota Racing Series where he has been competing for two seasons.
Tim Martin meanwhile is well known to everyone in the Battery Town Porsche GT3 Challenge category, though more as a key member of International Motorsport’s management team. The 23-year-old is a talented driver in his own right however, having competed in the inaugural Trans-Tasman GT3 Cup in 2003 and 2004 and - for the past two years - at the annual Nurburgring 24 Hour Endurance race in Germany.
And why are there, seemingly all of sudden, so many ambitious young drivers moving up to the Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship?
Porsche importer European Motors’ General Manager Grant Smith believes that it was only a matter of time, given the undeniably strong fundamentals of the category.
 “Last season was probably the first where we had young guns like Jody Vincent and Jono Lester evaluating all the various options and deciding that our category offered the best option, both in terms of career development and return on investment for their sponsors. I think the success they both enjoyed last year has had a lot to do with it too. I think it made a lot of people take a closer look at our category and what it offers. And obviously they’ve liked what they saw.”
 The return for drivers and sponsors alike has got even better too with the news that this season the Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship will enjoy double (increased to one per round up from half an hour) the TV coverage on TV1’s top-rating Powerbuilt Motorsport show on Sunday afternoons, plus the repeat package on Sky.