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Team Kiwi Racing is the subject of a trans-Tasman battle for ownership following the bankruptcy of owner David John.
If the ownership goes to Australia, it will cease to be Team Kiwi and the only New Zealand-based V8 Supercars team will be gone.
Australian Porsche racer Dean Fiore has already lodged a bid to buy the V8 Supercars licence from the official assignee. A New Zealand syndicate headed by successful team owner Mark Petch is also preparing to make an offer.
It's a race against time, too. Whoever holds the race licence will be fined $A150,000 if they do not field a car in the opening round at Adelaide, which starts this week.
Complicating matters, John a remarkably persistent man remains defiant and says he can clear his debts without the assignee having to sell the licence, which is worth around $2 million.
John fielded a car in an official test session in Queensland during the week, with A1GP driver Jonny Reid at the wheel.
Petch and his syndicate want to keep the team's Kiwi character, operating like the Warriors league team or the Wellington Phoenix football side: a New Zealand team in a high-level Australian championship.
"We will lodge a formal bid in the next few days," said Petch, whose record as a team owner includes an Australian touring car championship with Robbie Francevic in the mid-1980s, and then five TraNZam titles and a New Zealand V8 championship with Kayne Scott of Hamilton.
Scott was TKR's main driver last year but his results were well below his capabilities.
"It was a character-building year because it was under-resourced and so on," Scott said. "I knew that beforehand but I hadn't appreciated just how tough it would be."
John survived a series of court actions but the ANZ National Bank had him bankrupted over a sum of about $330,000. John's companies, TKR and Numero Uno Investments, which actually owns the licence, are not bankrupt.
However, the official assignee is in the process of selling off John's assets to cover his debts, which include a secured debt of more than $750,000 to Tauranga businessman-racer Bernie Gillon. John's main assets are TKR and Numero Uno.
In the Queensland test on Wednesday, Reid drove a VE Commodore provided by Paul Morris Motorsport, the car that Morris himself raced last year.
Fiore and fellow Australian Steve Owen were also supposed to drive the car, but only Reid's name appears on the time-sheets. He was the slowest of the 18 drivers there, 3.2sec off the pace set by James Courtney, but John said the purpose of the test was just to shake down the car.
If he is able to continue in the championship this year, John says he will use a number of different drivers, probably including Australians. Drivers would have to bring their own money or sponsorship to race with his team.
If the ownership goes to Australia, it will cease to be Team Kiwi and the only New Zealand-based V8 Supercars team will be gone.
Australian Porsche racer Dean Fiore has already lodged a bid to buy the V8 Supercars licence from the official assignee. A New Zealand syndicate headed by successful team owner Mark Petch is also preparing to make an offer.
It's a race against time, too. Whoever holds the race licence will be fined $A150,000 if they do not field a car in the opening round at Adelaide, which starts this week.
Complicating matters, John a remarkably persistent man remains defiant and says he can clear his debts without the assignee having to sell the licence, which is worth around $2 million.
John fielded a car in an official test session in Queensland during the week, with A1GP driver Jonny Reid at the wheel.
Petch and his syndicate want to keep the team's Kiwi character, operating like the Warriors league team or the Wellington Phoenix football side: a New Zealand team in a high-level Australian championship.
"We will lodge a formal bid in the next few days," said Petch, whose record as a team owner includes an Australian touring car championship with Robbie Francevic in the mid-1980s, and then five TraNZam titles and a New Zealand V8 championship with Kayne Scott of Hamilton.
Scott was TKR's main driver last year but his results were well below his capabilities.
"It was a character-building year because it was under-resourced and so on," Scott said. "I knew that beforehand but I hadn't appreciated just how tough it would be."
John survived a series of court actions but the ANZ National Bank had him bankrupted over a sum of about $330,000. John's companies, TKR and Numero Uno Investments, which actually owns the licence, are not bankrupt.
However, the official assignee is in the process of selling off John's assets to cover his debts, which include a secured debt of more than $750,000 to Tauranga businessman-racer Bernie Gillon. John's main assets are TKR and Numero Uno.
In the Queensland test on Wednesday, Reid drove a VE Commodore provided by Paul Morris Motorsport, the car that Morris himself raced last year.
Fiore and fellow Australian Steve Owen were also supposed to drive the car, but only Reid's name appears on the time-sheets. He was the slowest of the 18 drivers there, 3.2sec off the pace set by James Courtney, but John said the purpose of the test was just to shake down the car.
If he is able to continue in the championship this year, John says he will use a number of different drivers, probably including Australians. Drivers would have to bring their own money or sponsorship to race with his team.
The sooner the better.
More than likely al of the Ford teams have had a gutsful of him so he has had to try back for the other side and someone was silly enough to say 'Yep'. 
