Triple Tasman champion. Graham McRae (McRae GM2), is a clear favourite to win the Wigram race again-but, as the crowds saw at Levin and Pukekohe, where MeRae led commandingly for half the races only to be put out by mechanical trouble, no thing is certain in racing until the flag has fallen. RACE PROSPE "Graham McRae will win the New Zealand Grand Prix at Wigram. with a healthy margin over the rest of the field." That is a prediction that could well prove correct. but McRae himself would be the first to acknowledge the impossibility of making firm predictions in motor-racing — especially when the opposition cludes drivers of the calibre of those who will also be seeking the Lady Wigram Trophy and Grand Prix honours on Sunday. McRae may, indeed be the favourite, but a lot of things could come between his GM2 car and victory. One of these things could be the Chevron B24 of Peter Gethin, a top British Formula 5000 driver with all the skill necessary io take the laurels in the third race of the : Stuyvesant $100,000 series. Nor did his team-mate Teddy Pilette win the European title last year without any talent, and he must counted a serious threat. Meanwhile, the Austra- lian contingent could give everyone a surprise. John McCormack (Eifin) wOrt the Grand Prix last and would certainly like to make it two in a row. He has both the machinery and the skill to do SO. Max Stewart (Lola) is a veteran campaigner. with as much knowledge of race tactics as anyone in field. Nor will Wigram crowds have forgotten his outstanding performances of past years. Then there are two young Australians who are definitely what the French call "comingmen": Johnnie The European Formula 5000 chamnion for 1973 and maior contender in the CTS Walker, the Levin winner. and Warwick Brown. Both are a threat to the top men in their own country, and they are keen to get to the top here too. Britain's S. Thompson. however. is somewhat oi an unknown quantity, his car delivery problems naving kept him out of contention so far. To do weli in the series he must start winning now, and he wil! certainly be trying to notch points from the start. Among the resident drivers, Allan McCully has already • provided a shock for the visitors, with his second at Levin, and such men as the experienced Graeme Lawrence (Loia) and David Oxton (Begg FM5) will be piling on the pressure. The men who race in the Tasman international events would not be disgraced in any company, a lesson learned in the past by drivers from the United States and Europe who have come to New Zealand and : Australia to show the locals how to do it. Sunda! will produce world-clas racing. The meeting holds added significance Christchurch, because it is the first time the country : Grand Prix has been held here. and winning thr Grand Prix always rank: highly in the minds of the competitors. It would be brave. perhaps, but not rash, to predict a win for McRae Sunday. But to attempt to predict who will follow the first car across the would be the height •f C.... THE PRESS THI RSD1 MARY 1E. 1971 17-1-74 PETER STUYVESANT-NEW ZEALAND GRAND PETER PRX AUSTRALASIAS RICHEST MOTOR RACING SERIES 100000 LADY WIGRAM incorporating the Award of the 20th INTERNATIONAL TROPHY Wigram Jan 19th-20th presented by the Motor Racing Cuo