Enough pace to hold on

Justin Allen became the only driver to clock up a second victory this season in his Toyota GR86 with a fine win in the final race of the weekend in Invercargill.

He won by just over 0.2 of a second to maintain his strong form in the Bridgestone GR86 Championship and close the gap on the series leaders. 

Rivals Hayden Bakkerus and Hugo Allan came home third and seventh respectively in another closely fought and action-packed race.

“We had enough pace to just hold them,” says Allen. “I’d definitely have liked more but I felt pretty comfortable out there.”

Australian Cooper Barnes made it eight from eight when he became the latest winner after a dramatic second race at Teretonga Park.

A late restart failed to phase the rising star as he held off a fierce challenge from Caleb Byers to take the win. 

Byers took second, Josh Bethune a fighting third and Bakkerus took the championship lead after a drive through the field to fourth at the flag.

Chris White became the seventh winner in seven races of the inaugural Bridgestone GR86 Championship.

The weekend’s first race was stopped after a nasty accident involving master-class runner Simon Hunter from which he emerged shaken but otherwise unscathed. 

At the restart, White showed a clean pair of heels to the field and assumed the lead again. Allen and Australian Lachlan Evennett – excelling once again after a superb restart – chased hard but couldn’t catch the youngster.

“It means so much,” says White. “I really want to thanks my sponsors Tony Quinn and Pak’nSave for putting so much faith and support my way. It’s awesome to be able to get that race win. The team gave me a rapid car.”