Adam on blistering form at Hampton Downs
Connor Adam signalled his intent in the Best Bars Toyota 86 season's final round at Hampton Downs today with a blistering pole position lap that saw him edge out champion Peter Vodanovich.
The 12 drivers in the field enjoyed dry conditions in qualifying after a morning of wet weather practice. And it was Adam who set the early pace with a low 1 minute 17 second lap with Vodanovich in the purple NEXEN car two tenths of a second down.
Adam then lowered his own mark in the Post Haste car to edge a half second advantage over Vodanovich. Peter gradually whittled the gap back down to just two hundredths of a second after another big one lap effort, before Adam responded with the first sub 1 minute 17 second lap.
That pushed the gap to just over one tenth and Adam signed off the session with an even faster lap to leave him an impressive four tenths of a second over Vodanovich who ended the session in second overall.
Andrew Jackson, meanwhile, proved to be a star of qualifying, holding down third on the timesheets for Darkhorse Racing from the halfway mark and holding on to secure his highest ever starting position in the Best Bars Toyota 86 Championship.
Series debutants Mark Mallard, Christina Orr-West and Alexandra Whitley all showed strong pace during the qualifying session and will line up fourth, seventh and ninth respectively. Brock Gilchrist rounded out the top five in the Nexus Logistics racer.
A very wet practice period in the morning had seen Gilchrist and Adam shine, along with Justin Allen. Orr-West also showed her skills in the treacherous conditions with third fastest time in both Practice 1 and Practice 2.
With the non-championship round running over just two days, the three races will all take place on Saturday.
Best Bars Toyota 86 Championship - Round 5 non-championship Hampton Downs
- 9 Connor Adam
- 1 Peter Vodanovich
- 21 Andrew Jackson
- 8 Mark Mallard
- 10 Brock Gilchrist
- 99 Justin Allen
- 55 Christina Orr-West
- 43 Brayden Phillips
- 6 Alexandra Whitley
- 17 Ryan Wood
- 222 Todd Foster
- 18 Tayler Bryant
