New Zealand Formula Pacific 1980
After Teo Fabi's success in a works March in 1979, a two-car Marlboro-backed works team was sent out for 1980, with Mike Thackwell and Andrea de Cesaris driving. Alan Docking Racing had a heavily-modified Chevron B48 for Huub Rothengatter, Ken Smith had the ex-Fabi March 782/79B, and Steve Millen, Dave McMillan and Australian John Smith all fielded Ralt RT1s.
The opening round of the series at Bay Park was cancelled due to a prize fund dispute, one unfortunate side-effect of which was to give a group of visiting Australian saloon car drivers the opportunity to demonstrate the excitement of Holdens and Chevys. With saloon racing also taking over from Formula Atlantic as the premier category in South Africa, this might mark the point at which single-seater racing in the southern hemisphere went into long-term decline.
Ken Smith and Steve Millen took the opening two races at Pukekohe, then John Smith took over with two dominant victories at Manfeild, but Smith suffered two retirements at Wigram to drop him out of contention. Both Wigram races were won by McMillan, who thus vaulted up to second in the points table behind the consistent Millen. The unpredictabiliy continued into the final pair of races. Millen clashed with Rothengatter at the start of the first race, breaking an arm as his Ralt cartwheeled. De Cesaris won both races after McMillan allowed the Italian to take over the lead, knowing that he must finish to overtake Millen's points total, and was therefore happy to cruise to the finish in second place.
The races
13 Jan 1980 > New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe
13 Jan 1980 > New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe
21 Jan 1980 > Manfeild
21 Jan 1980 > Manfeild
27 Jan 1980 > Wigram
27 Jan 1980 > Wigram
03 Feb 1980 > Pukekohe
03 Feb 1980 > Pukekohe
1980 Aurora AFX International Formula Pacific Championship table
| 1 | Dave McMillan | Ralt RT1 - Ford BDA Hart | 83 pts | 2 wins |
| 2 | Steve Millen | Ralt RT1 - Ford BDA Masport | 75 pts | 1 win |
| 3 | Andrea de Cesaris | March 792 - Ford BDA | 72 pts | 2 wins |
| 4 | David Oxton | Chevron B34 - Ford BDA Hart | 61 pts | |
| 5= | Brett Riley | March 77B - Ford BDA Nicholson | 51 pts | |
| 5= | Huub Rothengatter | Chevron B48 - Ford BDA | 51 pts | |
| 7 | John Smith | Ralt RT1 - Ford BDA Swindon | 47 pts | 2 wins |
| 8 | Larry Perkins | Chevron B39 - Ford BDA | 47 pts | |
| 9 | Grant Campbell | Chevron B39 - Ford BDA | 32 pts | |
| 10 | Ian Flux | Ehrlich RP5 - Ford BDA Nicholson | 32 pts | |
| 11 | Ken Smith | March 782 - Ford BDA | 28 pts | 1 win |
| 12 | Desiré Wilson | March 77B - Ford BDA Nicholson | 18 pts | |
| 13 | Mike Thackwell | March 792 - Ford BDA | 17 pts | |
| 14 | Bob Donaldson | Chevron B42 - Ford BDA Hart | 10 pts | |
| 15 | Rex Hart | Surtees TS15 - Ford BDA | 4 pts | |
| 16 | Hugh Owen | Ralt RT1 - Ford BDA | 3 pts |
Peter Greenslade's reports for Autosport were in AS 17 Jan 1980 p8, AS 24 Jan 1980 p6, AS 31 Jan 1980 p7 and 7 Feb 1980 p8-9.
1979-1980 Union Travel Formula Pacific series (MANZ Gold Star)
Dave McMillan also won the 1979-80 Gold Star series in his Ralt RT1 from David Oxton in his Chevron B34 and Ken Smith in the ex-Teo Fabi March 782/79B. Grame Lawrence debuted his March 80A too late in the season to be a factor. Union Travel announced before the end of the season that it would not continue its sponsorship of the series.