Toyota 86 Championship battle rages on
Pukekohe this weekend marks the second round of the Toyota 86 Championship and although it's still early stages in the series, it is shaping up to be one of the most competitive and closely fought championships in many a season in New Zealand.
Last time out was also at Pukekohe for the Supercars round, but on a different configuration of the iconic circuit. This time around the 17 strong field will run on the old circuit for the first time in the championship’s history and it should be an enthralling contest to see who comes out on top.
Connor Adam and Callum Hedge split the race wins two to one at the first round, but there was way more to it than that with Jaden Ransley and Jordan Baldwin also at the sharp end of the field throughout the weekend. One of the pre-season favourites, Arran Crighton from the CareVets Scholarship team started on the back foot after a crash in qualifying left him in a back-up car for the weekend's races. He'll be back in his own car for Round 2 and will no doubt be determined to make amends and get his title challenge firmly back on track.
Adam looked both fast and mature bagging two race wins and the round win last month, and will unquestionably be a factor again this weekend in the Post Haste-supported machine, while both Baldwin and Hedge showed prodigious speed. Ransley was the fastest in the third race and won on the road, but a jumped start cost him a ten second penalty and demoted him to third for that race. He'll be wanting to put that right.
Peter Vodanovich endured a challenging round first time out with more than his fair share of drama, while the youngest driver in the field Connor Davison spent his weekend in recovery mode after his own off in qualifying.
Add in Kaleb Ngatoa, Brock Gilchrist, Andrew Jackson, Justin Allen, Campbell Stewart and the rest of the field as potential race winners and the stage is set for another epic weekend of racing action from this high quality field.
Toyota 86 Championship 2018-2019 Driver Standings
1 Connor Adam 217
2 Callum Hedg 189
3 Jordan Baldwin 188
4 Jaden Ransley 174
5 Jake Klein 143
6 Brock Gilchrist 130
7 Andrew Jackson 111
8 Justin Allen 101
9 Campbell Stewart 95
10 Kaleb Ngatoa 92
11 Sam Wright 90
12 Arran Crighton 85
13 Mitch Hughes 84
14 Jacob Cranston 84
15 Peter Vodanovich 81
16 Connor Davison 66
17 Tony Austin 56
