Top marks for Grammer after drive through the field to win

Nathan Grammer left himself plenty of work to do after missing second gear and dropping to eighth place, but a fine recovery drive saw him come back through the field to win the first race of the final weekend of the 2026 Toyota 86 Trophy Series at Manfeild - Circuit Chris Amon.

In a busy but exciting race in cold and slippery conditions, Nathan made his way relentlessly back through the field, passing leader and pole position holder Marcel Bartley at the infield hairpin on the sixth lap to take the lead.

“I got a good initial launch but just that shift into second I got slightly wrong and hit neutral down the straight and watched everyone go by,” he said.

“The car was absolutely on fire today though. This car is absolutely insane in the wet and that helped me get back up to first. It’s great to see Marcel get third too, it was a fun race.”

Bartley was never out of the action in the various battles at the front of the field throughout the ten lap race - including a stint in the lead - but even he probably didn’t expect Riley Boswell to be the one emerging as his major challenger in the closing stages.

Off the pace in qualifying, Boswell was in many respects the man of the race. A great start saw him sixth at the end of the first lap, and he was up to fourth a lap later. He was embroiled in a great battle with Nieko Scoles, Taylor Mitchell and Miles Baker for most of the race until that all came to a head at the start of lap nine when Baker spun wildly - and out of the race - exiting the first turn. 

Boswell emerged in third at the end of that lap and passed Bartley for second on the final lap of the race.

Mitchell survived the drama and his own scrap with Scoles to take fourth, with Nieko in fifth. Mitch Vye came home sixth while Josh Hill was another to recover from an off to make it home in seventh, passing Mark Mallard late on in the race.

In the slippery conditions, Mallard survived a spin on the warm-up lap to make it to the finish in eighth and last of the runners. 

Toby Elmiger looked like a winner early on as he chased and passed Bartley for the lead, but in a moment of cruel luck slowed and stopped out on track almost immediately after taking the lead.

2026 Toyota 86 Trophy Series - Round 4 - Manfeild - Race 1