Champion’s drive secures series for Mitchell
Taylor Mitchell will be back with his team for a season in the Bridgestone GR86 Championship after a champion’s drive in the final race of the weekend at Manfeild secured him the 2026 Toyota 86 Trophy Series.
Nathan Grammer won an excellent race with Mitchell, the CareVets Scholarship driver, in second, and Josh Hill third. Main title rival Nieko Scoles fought as hard as he could, but his sixth place wasn’t enough to deny Mitchell the title.
“I’m speechless,” says Mitchell. “I knew what I had to do. I drove as hard as I could and to get second overall in that race after the last two races was more than I had hoped.
“It’s just great to win the trophy and I’m excited about what’s to come with the team and a season in the main championship.”
As the trophy series winner, Taylor secures a ride in the CareVets Scholarship GR86 for the 2026/27 Bridgestone GR86 Championship with the car, engineer and mechanic costs all taken care off. He also receives a $10,000 cash injection from Creme Insurance.
The race itself was another thriller as Toby Elmiger made the best job of the first lap to emerge in the lead. He was closely followed by Grammer, another to make a good getaway.
Pole-position holder Hill was next up, but the big mover had been Mitchell who moved from seventh to fourth ahead of Riley Boswell and Scoles during the opening lap.
While Grammer and Elmiger cleared off at the front of the field, all eyes were on the battle for the trophy title behind. Hill held on to a solid third until the sixth lap when some serious moves among the pack at the first turn saw Mitchell come through to third, ahead of Hill, Boswell and Scoles.
It all settled down somewhat until Elmiger ran wide at the infield hairpin on the ninth lap and was delayed long enough to let the title battlers through. He was able to rejoin in fifth. The way was clear for both Grammer and Mitchell to come home first and second.
There was some consolation for Scoles who won the winter series class, but the big prize went to Mitchell.
Carevets Scholarship boss Keith Houston says: “It’s nice having Taylor going from this rung of the ladder to the next.
“We’re all looking forward to seeing how he goes in the rookie class of the GR86 next season. It was very close today, Nieko ran some brilliant races and it was an exciting race.”
Runner-up in the trophy series as well as winner of the winter series, it wasn’t a bad day’s haul for Scoles. He secures a lease car for the Bridgestone GR86 Championship while third-placed Boswell wins the prize of GR86 entry fee and tyres for the season.
For the top three winter series runners, all secure tyres for Bridgestone GR86 Championship campaigns. Three sets to the winner, two for the runner-up and a set for third place.
Scoles took his third – and most important – victory in the 2026 series on Sunday morning to set up the dramatic showdown.
A great start by Scoles saw him take second at the start behind leader Riley Boswell, and he pressured Boswell’s yellow car throughout the race until the sixth lap when he found a way past. Scoles reckoned it was his best win so far in the series.
Grammer, meanwhile, 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 at Manfeild.
In a busy but exciting race in cold and slippery conditions, he 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.
