Leader’s double delight

A fantastic start was the foundation for a great win for Chris White at Teretonga Park in the Bridgestone GR86 Championship’s third-round feature race.

Having lost the series lead to Zach Blincoe in Sunday morning’s race, White’s great drive allowed him to retake the series lead. Ajay Giddy capped a fine weekend with second and Hugo Allan came home a fighting third.

“It was pretty tricky in those first few laps with Ajay pushing me really hard,” says White, pictured. “I didn’t try too hard to defend as it was wet off-line. We knuckled down, hit our marks every lap and managed to get a gap later on, which was great as we haven’t been able to do that recently.”

At the start – on the much drier track near Invercargill – White made an almost perfect start from the front row to comfortably out drag the field, including pole-position holder Giddy, to the first turn. A bit of rallycross aside, everyone made it through but a corner or two later Mac Templeton spun out.

Behind the two leaders it was Blincoe and Hugo Allan, with Josh Bethune and Simon Hunter tucked in behind them. Blincoe, who had struggled for pace earlier in the weekend, couldn’t contain Allan who found a way through on lap nine. This unleashed Allan and he headed off after Giddy and White. 

At the front, Blincoe was coming under increasing pressure from Bethune and was doing well holding off a car with superior speed. On lap 16, however, they touched and the former went off the circuit for the second time at high speed.

Blincoe was able to recover but lost vital places and that made the significance of White’s lead even bigger in terms of points lost. It put Bethune up to fourth with a clear track ahead of him, but his move caught race director’s eye and he was given a 10-second penalty.

Giddy never lost touch during the race as he and the leader traded fastest laps in the closing laps, but White had it all under control.

Battling wet conditions

Justin Allen survived the drama of a wet Teretonga track and the reverse top-eight grid to win round three’s second race.

Allen was third on the grid but made a fantastic start and took the lead before the first of two safety cars.

The second triggered a shortened race, which finished under the safety car. Allen held off Blincoe and cruised to the chequered flag to take his first win of the GR86 season.

“I got a good start and knew the grip was on the outside, so that’s where I focused,” says Allen. “I’m delighted to put the car in P1 this week and a big thanks to the team for giving me the car to do it.”

Meanwhile, White secured a lights-to-flag victory in the weekend’s first race, again in the rain. It was far from plain sailing though as he came under massive pressure late in the shortened race from pole-sitter Giddy.

Reduced to 10 laps, White was aware that had it gone the full 15, Giddy would have been even closer, but he did the hard mahi in the early stages and was delighted to take the win.

“It was definitely difficult out there,” says White. “After a great start, I got a really good lead and didn’t want to make any mistakes with Ajay that fast behind so that was really the focus of the race.”

Giddy was happy enough with second – disappointed with his start but happy with his race pace – while Blincoe had to be satisfied with third after struggling a little for race pace. That said, he held off a very fast and fired up Hugo Allan for the final place on the podium.