Driver excluded by officials
A fine drive in the feature race at the first round of the Bridgestone GR86 Championship looked to have given Josh Bethune and M2 Competition a debut victory, but the wrong racewear meant he was excluded by officials.
This handed Hugo Allan his first win of the weekend and gave him a valuable early points lead in the championship.
With the grid for the 12-lap feature determined by fastest laps in the first and second races, Bethune had a front-row start alongside pole-sitter and race-one winner Hayden Bakkerus.
At the lights neither made the perfect getaway, but Bethune’s was better and he surged ahead the exit of the second turn.
He built up a significant lead in almost no time. When Allan passed Bakkerus late on and slowed the chasing pack, Bethune extended his lead to an unassailable two-and-a-half second margin.
But a post-race check by officials determined part of his race clothing wasn’t legal and he was excluded.
Allan took his third runner-up spot of the weekend on the road, and pretty quickly it became clear that was going to be upgraded to a win.
“It’s a great weekend for myself and the team,” says Allan. “We’ve got some time now before the second round. We’ll work even harder to find a little extra speed and turn that into race wins.”
Bakkerus ended his impressive weekend with another trip to the podium in what turned out to be second.
Cooper Barnes showed why he is highly rated as a championship contender despite some bad luck. His outright pace qualified him well for the feature race and he made the most of it, coming home third.
Emerson Vincent turned a lightning getaway into a debut victory in the second race of the weekend at Taupo International Motorsport Park on Sunday morning.
The 16-year-old Kings College student showed why he is one of the country’s best young talents with an accomplished drive from the first lap to the last. His two-second margin on the charging pack was testament to a very mature drive.
And Bakkerus soaked up race-long pressure from Bethune and Allan to take the chequered flag in race one – his first-ever win in the Bridgestone GR86 Championship.
