Nelson's John McIntyre is already a three-time New Zealand V8 touring car champion, but when he lines up for the inaugural race of the all-new V8SuperTourers Championship at Hampton Downs on Saturday 18 February, he's going to face his toughest-ever season of racing.

"The competition we face from fellow V8SuperTourer competitors is unprecedented in New Zealand motorsport," says McIntyre, the current Gold Star V8 touring car champion. "For me, as a driver, and for my team, we are facing the toughest, most competitive season of touring car racing we've seen in this country. With 16 drivers in identical, purpose-built race cars, it's going to be all on come 18 February!"

The popular 34-year-old professional race team owner-driver is at the Hampton Downs circuit today (10 February) for the official V8SuperTourer test and media day.

"When we drove into Hampton Downs this morning, it was really exciting. John McIntyre Racing arrived in our new two-car transporter with our two FG Falcon V8SuperTourers prepped and ready to run and alongside me was two-time Bathurst winner Steven Richards who's driving our #556 CRC-backed car. It was quite a buzz.

"It's definitely a new chapter for JMR. We're a championship-winning team which wanted to be part of the next evolution of New Zealand motorsport. That's why we made the commitment back in March last year to move into V8SuperTourers."

McIntyre highlights the fact that not only is he racing a V8SuperTourer for the first time over the weekend of 17 to 19 February he's also doing it with virtually a brand-new crew.

"Not only has JMR moved from our previous engineering base in Hawke's Bay to Taupo, we've secured even more talented technical and mechanical personnel. We're running two cars for the first time in a brand-new series. This will be the first time I've raced at Hampton Downs, so that means it's the first time that JMR fans can come and see us race at this fantastic circuit. This official test session is the first time the #556 car has been on the track. It's the first time that Steve Richards has raced with JMR. It's exciting, alright, and you could say it's all on the line!"

McIntyre and his team are well-known for their thorough preparation and McIntyre admits they've logged serious hours to be ready.

"The cars have taken longer to build than anticipated; not that they're difficult, but we've taken the opportunity to learn as we built my #47 car which transferred into a speedier process for #556.

"Now we're as ready as we possibly can be, considering there are so many unknowns with this new series. Like everyone else, we'll find out as we get into the racing, how things work exactly with the cars, with the regulations and with the competition.

"We have numerous V8 touring car stars and champions in this field - Greg Murphy, Craig Baird and more - but watching young Andre Heimgartner matching Greg's times when those two teams were out testing last week, wow, you can tell that it's not going to be just the established stars we need to watch out for. This field is seriously deep with talent."

McIntyre and Richards race in the opening round of the V8SuperTourer series over the weekend of 17 to 19 February at Hampton Downs. Friday's schedule has two V8SuperTourer practise sessions at 1:30pm and 3pm. On Saturday, there is a 20 minute qualifying session at 12 noon, followed by the inaugural race of the championship, 20 laps at 3:10pm. Sunday sees McIntyre and Richards on track for a 25 lap race at 11:40am and the final race of the opening round, 35 laps at 2:45pm.