Close Racing Expected At Manfeild In Toyota 86 Trophy Series
While championship leader Lee Zeltwanger dominated the three races of the first round, honours for the two races at the second round a fortnight ago were split between young Ajay Giddy and Harry Townshend. And try as he might, there was nothing Zeltwanger could do as he headed the rest of the compact but very high quality field.
Zeltwanger's performance so far in the winter series is all the more impressive because the small team running him – Skunkworks Racing – is also new to Toyota 86 racing. Lee and his team are also mixing it with some big names in NZ motorsport including Mackenzie Motorsport, iMac Engineering, RaceLab Academy and Action Motorsport.
Timaru's Corban Sprague is another new to Toyota 86 racing having secured the CareVets Scholarship prize for this inaugural winter TR86 series and he may just make that breakthrough to a first win this weekend having gained in speed and confidence over the previous two rounds.
Matt Day is in a very similar situation on track, catching the eye with some great racing laps and race speed. Combine that with an improvement in qualifying and he will also be a threat for race wins this weekend. Nathan Grammer and Toby Elmiger are improving with each outing too and can be expected to go well.
The two experienced Bridgestone GR86 Championship runners – Townshend and Giddy – will inevitably be close to the outright pace regardless this weekend and will be hunting for more race victories as they try to win the Winter class of the series. They are ineligible for Trophy Class points.
The technical and cambered turns of the Manfeild circuit invariably create great racing amongst the Toyota 86s and there'll be plenty of action for them this weekend with two practice sessions, qualifying and one race on Saturday and two races on Sunday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
5 days ago
- Scoop
Registrations Open For Bridgestone GR86 Championship
The six-round championship – which will once again run as a featured category in the NextGen national championship series, includes two dates at Hampton Downs, a weekend at Toyota NZ's 'home circuit' of Manfeild, the South Island leg of Teretonga followed by the 70th New Zealand Grand Prix meeting at Highlands and will conclude once again with the Supercars round at Taupo Motorsport Park. It proved exceptionally popular in its inaugural season with grids upwards of 24 cars at each round and a close fight for the championship that went down to the wire before Hugo Allan secured the title with just one race remaining. Interest in the next edition of the championship is at an unprecedented level – with drivers from the inaugural Toyota 86 Trophy Series, rookies and regulars from last season and a healthy amount of new and upcoming driving talent all looking to secure a spot for 2025-2026. 'Each season we are always excited about what lies ahead in terms of the quality of the field, which is always more important than the quantity,' explained Category Manager Amanda Tollemache. 'With the Bridgestone GR86 Championship, we continue to see high both demand and high quality amongst those interested in running and with only limited cars and spaces it made sense to open registrations promptly and to officially start to build the field for the next season. 'We'll have another awesome prize package, the racing is guaranteed to be close and we should once again see the best of our current and future driving talent take the next step of their careers in the championship.' Whilst many drivers and teams have retained their line ups for season two, there are still lease and new cars available for when the season blasts off at the end of October with the first round at Hampton Downs on the international layout. A break until the 9th–11th January is followed by a return to the North Waikato circuit, again on the long track. The championship heads south two weeks later for the double header at Teretonga 23-25 January) and the Grand Prix meeting at Highlands the following weekend. It's back to the North Island for the final two rounds, with Manfeild February 27th- March 1st and the the big finale at the Supercars weekend on April 10-12. 2025-2026 Bridgestone GR86 Championship Round 1 - 31 October - 2 November 2025, Hampton Downs Motorsport Park Round 2 - 9 - 11 January 2026, Hampton Downs Motorsport Park Round 3 - 23 - 25 January 2026, Teretonga Park, Invercargill Round 5 - 27 February - 1 March 2026, Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon
Scoop
25-07-2025
- Scoop
Zeltwanger Two Races Away From Glory
Lee Zeltwanger will be hoping for a drama-free weekend as the clock counts down to the final round of the inaugural Toyota 86 Trophy Series at Taupo International Motorsport Park this Saturday and Sunday. Zeltwanger has been the revelation of the four round winter series, not only matching the pace of more senior Bridgestone GR86 Championship runners Harry Townshend and Ajay Giddy, but leading the points battle for series honours overall with just two races this Sunday remaining. He has a 60 point lead over his nearest challenger in the race for the highly desirable prize pool. The winner will secure not only a free lease of a GR86 – supported by CareVets – but also free support from a race and championship winning engineer and mechanic. Second place in the championship will secure a free lease of a car from TGRNZ. Both first and second places will be responsible for other season costs. The third placed driver will secure entry fees and tyres for a season in the 2024-25 Bridgestone GR86 Championship. Sprague will be aiming to sign off his winter season in style with a debut win, having improved with each outing in his CareVets Scholarship car while Matt Day has impressed many with his speed in the TR86 and is in a well-deserved third overall in the Trophy Series points. All of the young guns will need to have their eyes out this weekend for both Townshend and Giddy. Both have taken wins and multiple podium places in the three rounds so far and will be on the pace this coming weekend too. They can't win the Trophy Series prizes – which are exclusively for TR86 rookies – but they can certainly add to their tally of wins and that is what both will be aiming to do. Mitch Vye makes his TR86 debut this weekend at Taupo too, and it will be the first appearance in the winter series for the Right Karts Academy – which ran three cars so strongly in its debut Bridgestone GR86 Championship campaign last season. If Mitch matches the form of the summer series drivers, he could be a dark horse for this final weekend. Nathan Grammer and Toby Elmiger complete the runners and will both be hoping to finish their campaigns for Mackenzie Motorsport and Action Motorsport on a high. Toyota 86 Trophy Series – Points after Round 3
Scoop
06-07-2025
- Scoop
Zeltwanger Shows His Racing Prowess At Manfeild
With Saturday's win and a strong second place in Race 2, Zeltwanger and his Skunkworks team also took the overall honours for the third round of the series, with only the final round remaining at Taupo in three weeks. He now has a 60 point advantage. Harry Townshend drove a fine race on Sunday morning to hold off the challenge from Zeltwanger and record his second win in two weekends to extend his lead in the Winter Class for Bridgestone GR86 Championship drivers. It was Zeltwanger, however who put in the stand out performance of the weekend, racing through the field from the back of the final race's reverse grid to take the chequered flag. Ajay Giddy had a strong Sunday after clouting the tyre barrier in Saturday's race, bringing his Mackenzie Motorsport car home in third place in Race 2 and second in Race 3. Corban Sprague had to be satisfied with fourth in the morning and sixth in the afternoon for CareVets though his weekend was strong enough to leave him second in the series points ahead of the final round. Matt Day sits third overall after a trouble free weekend in the Manawatu while Nathan Grammer's Saturday podium and a fourth in Sunday's second race consolidate his fourth place in the points. Pos Car # Driver name Trophy / Winter Team 1 73 Harry Townshend Winter Mackenzie Motorsport 2 22 Lee Zeltwanger Trophy Skunkworks Racing 3 10 Ajay Giddy Winter Mackenzie Motorsport 4 84 Corban Sprague Trophy iMac Engineering 5 100 Matt Day Trophy Dayle ITM Racing 6 74 Toby Elmiger Trophy Action Motorsport 7 50 Nathan Grammer Trophy Mackenzie Motorsport Toyota 86 Trophy Series – Round 3 Manfeild – Circuit Chris Amon – Race 3 Pos Car # Driver name Trophy / Winter Team 1 22 Lee Zeltwanger Trophy Skunkworks Racing 2 10 Ajay Giddy Winter Mackenzie Motorsport 3 73 Harry Townshend Winter Mackenzie Motorsport 4 50 Nathan Grammer Trophy Mackenzie Motorsport 5 100 Matt Day Trophy Dayle ITM Racing 6 84 Corban Sprague Trophy iMac Engineering 7 74 Toby Elmiger Trophy Action Motorsport Toyota 86 Trophy Series – Points after Round 3 2025 Toyota 86 Trophy Series Rd1 9-10 May 2025 Hampton Downs - NZIGP Finale Rd2 21-22 June 2025 Taupo Int. Motorsport Park - Taupo Winter Series Rd3 5-6 July 2025 Manfeild – Circuit Chris Amon - Manfeild Winter Series Rd4 26-27 July 2025 Taupo Int. Motorsport Park - Taupo Winter Series
