Allan wins with champion’s drive at Manfeild

A fantastic first two corners gave reigning champion Hugo Allan the lead in the first race at Manfeild and he never looked back as he raced away to an impressive win in the penultimate round of the Bridgestone GR86 Championship.

Allan’s win for iMac Racing– on his first ever visit to the Manawatu circuit - edged him closer to the leaders in the points table but a solid second for championship leader Chris White increased his advantage over nearest challenger Zach Blincoe to 68 points. Josh Bethune rounded out the podium finishers after a solid drive for Right Karts by M2 Competition.

“The car was super strong, and it was actually my first time racing here, so to win was great and a bit special,” said Hugo afterwards.

“The boys kicked me into gear after a start to the season which wasn’t ideal but the car is also performing better than it ever has.”

Mackenzie Motorsport’s Arthur Broughan started on pole thanks to his second best lap time in qualifying fastest of the drivers’ ‘next best’ laps which form the Race 1 grid. He had champion Allan alongside him.

Arthur did get the best start of the two and held the ideal inside line into the first turn, but Hugo wasn’t done and fought his way all the way around the outside to emerge from turn one alongside the leader. He kept his foot hard on the gas and swept into the lead down the inside of turn two in what was a superb move. It was – in fact - a fantastic piece of driving by both of the series’ best young drivers. And crucially, it would also be the foundation of Hugo’s victory.

Next lap around and championship leader White almost caught both of the leaders napping into turn one, but while Allan stayed calm, a resultant scrappy second lap by Broughan ultimately let both White and a flying Josh Bethune through.

It was the opportunity Allan needed – and even though it was early in the race – he took it. By the end of the third lap he had a lead of just under a second from White, Bethune, Broughan and Justin Allen – the local hero on the move nice and early before getting boxed in behind Broughan and with Lee Zeltwanger on his rear bumper. Allen was nonetheless looking pretty secure in fifth, however, as he used his circuit expertise to good effect in defence.

The focus of the race for the fans and TV commentators was White in second and his staunch defence of the position – six places ahead of his championship rival Zach Blincoe. He certainly had his work cut out however, with Bethune, Broughan, Allen and Zeltwanger all lined up bumper-to-bumper behind the Neale Motorsport driver.

That was more good news for Allan in the lead as he edged away by a couple of tenths for each of the remaining laps – locking out any chance of drivers behind from catching him, yet alone challenging him.

Further back the spirited contest for the mid-field places took a dramatic turn on the penultimate lap as the battle between Zeltwanger, Allen and Ajay Giddy erupted with contact between Justin and Lee that sent the NAPA Autoparts car momentarily off-track. Damaged tracking on the steering made driving in a straight line a visible challenge for Allen and a few corners later he and Giddy made contact too.  It was amazing that they all managed to continue at the pace that they did.

The front runners continued to extend their lead ahead of the drama but nobody had an answer for the fired up champion, who took the flag in style after 10 laps. White was an excellent second, two seconds behind, after holding off continual attacks from Bethune in fourth and a fortunate Zeltwanger in fifth.

Behind the top five the fierce battle for the remaining top ten places was resolved in favour of sixth-placed Blincoe, who just about evaded all of the drama to sneak past the wounded Allen, who miraculously survived for seventh place despite the best efforts of damaged steering.  

Giddy followed him home in eighth, with Harry Townshend in hot pursuit in ninth and Cooper Barnes in tenth.  Nathan Grammer impressed on his series debut finishing just outside of the top ten in 11^th. Allen and Blincoe start Sunday morning’s second race – featuring a reverse top seven grid – from the front row.

2025-2026 Bridgestone GR86 Championship – Round 5 Manfeild - Race 1