Toyota Finance 86 Championship winner to race at Bathurst

06 October 2015  /   Series Development

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The stakes have been raised with a race at the Bathurst 1000 up for grabs for this season’s Toyota Finance 86 Championship winner.  An incredible opportunity for the series winner to get exposure at Australia’s largest motorsport event with track time preceding the V8 Supercars race.

The overall winner from the New Zealand six round sports car series, which runs from November to March, will win the chance to compete in the Toyota 86 sprint races at the iconic Bathurst event in 2016.

“I haven’t heard of a New Zealand race series that has ever offered this opportunity,” said Steve Boyce, Toyota New Zealand’s Motorsport Manager. 

“Being a distributor-backed series it’s allowed us to lock this in with Toyota Australia, and it also provides a taste of global racing opportunities that exist for New Zealand racing talent.”

“It’s every budding motor racing driver’s dream to race at Bathurst. Now that dream will become reality next year.”

The successful driver will be racing an 86 supplied by Toyota Australia with similar specification to the vehicles used in the New Zealand Championship.  This opportunity has been made possible through Toyota Australia debuting their Pro-Am 86 series this year and providing one of their series cars to the New Zealand 86 series champion.  

“They will be racing in front of around 200,000 people over the weekend,” said Mr Boyce. “All the top Australian teams will be present and watching the potential stars of the future and the TV exposure is also huge.”

The successful driver will also race alongside Australia’s top 86 drivers, providing invaluable race experience to further their race career.

This summer’s Toyota Finance 86 Championship starts at Pukekohe from November 6-8 as one of the supporting categories to New Zealand’s round of the V8 Supercar Series, another high profile event for competitors.

The Toyota Finance 86 Championship continues at Hampton Downs on November 28-29 and then supports the Toyota single seater racing series at Ruapuna on January 16-17, Teretonga on January 23-24 and the New Zealand Grand Prix at Manfeild on February 13-14. The final round is at Taupo Motorsport Park on 26-27 March 2016. All six rounds will be televised on TV3’s CRC Motorsport programme.