Zeltwanger In Rivals' Sights For Taupo
Lee Zeltwanger is the man they have to catch at the second round of the new Toyota 86 Trophy Series at the Taupo International Motorsport Park this weekend.
On an impressive debut last month at Hampton Downs, Lee clean swept the first round of the series with pole position, two race wins and the day's fastest lap. Now it's on to the 3.3km track in the South Waikato, notorious as being particularly hard on tyres over a race weekend.
Zeltwanger was challenged hard at the first round by Bridgestone GR86 Championship regulars Harry Townshend and AJ Giddy at the first round, but those challengers are likely to be joined at the sharp end of the grid by CareVets Scholarship winner Corban Sprague and the impressive Matt Day, who improved with every session at Hampton Downs.
Action Motorsport will once again field experienced racer Noel Simpson and rising talent Toby Elmiger who will be looking to continue the improvements they made at the first round.
Conley Webley will be missing from the grid this round due to a clash with another event, but will be back for the third round at Manfeild.
The field will be joined this weekend by Antal Sabo, an experienced club level driver and eSports motorsport competitor who will be racing a Toyota 86 for the first time this weekend, running with Race Lab Academy.
The 29-year-old, who is originally from Timisoara in Romania will bring race and class winning experience from Elf Rhino Racing Series, the OK Cup and the NZ Honda Cup to his challenge, which will be supported by Crème Insurance after an introduction to the Toyota racing community by Mark Mallard.
There's two practice sessions on Saturday afternoon but the rest of the action all takes place on Sunday with another practice, qualifying and two races on a busy Sunday for teams and drivers.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
3 days ago
- Scoop
Season Two Dates Locked In For Bridgestone GR86 Championship
Dates for the second season of the Bridgestone GR86 Championship are locked and loaded for 2025 and 2026 and it promises to be another thrilling season for drivers in New Zealand's leading one make, one model 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. The season blasts off at the end of October with the first round at Hampton Downs before a break until the 9th – 11th January when its back to the North Waikato circuit, for its second weekend 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 Taupo Supercars weekend, April 10-12. A full grid was a huge feature of the inaugural year of the championship – won in style by Hugo Allan - and with dates confirmed early, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing New Zealand are again hoping for a full field of 20 plus cars. 'Last season's racing was closer than ever and produced great racing and a huge variety of winners and drivers who scored a podium result,' commented category manager Amanda Tollemache. 'Next season should be equally as exciting and there is a huge amount of interest, which we are certain will result in another big field.' 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 (venue TBC) Round 4 - 30 January - 1 February 2026 70th New Zealand GP - Highlands Motorsport Park Round 5 - 27 February - 1 March 2026, Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon
Otago Daily Times
6 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Commanding lead for impressive Lee
Higher scores have been on full display at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship in Frisco, Texas. That makes Minjee Lee's performance so far even more impressive. The Australia native fired a 3-under-par 69 on Saturday, her second round under par, to take a commanding four-stroke lead going into the final round. Just five rounds total at the tournament have been in the 60s, and Lee has owned two of them. "I just try to stay patient out there," Lee said. "You can't get ahead of yourself, especially in these conditions. It's just only getting harder and harder just with I think pressure of a major championship, and also just the course just demands so much from you." The 10-time LPGA Tour champion is pursuing her third major title, having previously won the 2022 US Women's Open and the 2021 Amundi Evian Championship. "I know what it takes to win and I know just kind of what to feel and what to expect now that I have two under my belt," Lee said. "So, yeah I just think the experience that I've had is really going to help me hopefully get over the line tomorrow." Lee avoided the ever-present bogey, which has haunted most of the golfers on this course, and instead grabbed three birdies, on holes 9, 14 and 15 to distance herself from the competition. That came on the heels of an opening round 69, which featured birdies on holes 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 14 and 15. The Fields Ranch East course at PGA Frisco was especially unkind Saturday to World No 2 Jeeno Thitikul, who is pursuing her first major, and who enjoyed a three-stroke lead coming into the weekend. The 22-year-old from Thailand suffered six bogeys while scoring two birdies to shoot a 4-over 76 and fall from 6 under to 2 under. Despite that disastrous round, she still sits in a better position than everyone else as one of two golfers currently under par, and she holds a three-shot lead on the rest of the field. The three golfers in the best position to make a potential run on the two leaders Sunday sit in a tie for third at 1 over. South Korea's Hye-Jin Choi had the best round of the three (72), but Japan's Miyu Yamashita (73) and American Lexi Thompson (75) are technically still in the hunt. World No1 Nelly Korda (72) is tied with three others in sixth place at 2-over-par 218. Yealimi Noh (74), Ireland's Leona Maguire (72) and Japan's Chisato Iwai (75) are the others. New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko was tied for 26th at 6-over. — Field Level Media
Scoop
6 days ago
- Scoop
Townshend Resists The Pressure For First Win
With fastest laps from the first race defining grid positions, it was Ajay Giddy starting on pole position for the second time today as he lined up alongside Winter class rival Townshend on the front row. Trophy Series points leader Lee Zeltwanger would line up alongside Matt Day on the second row with Corban Sprague and Antal Sabo completing row three. As the lights went out it was Townshend who made a flawless getaway, leapfrogging into the lead by the first turn and leaving Giddy to fight off the attentions of a raging pack behind that included Zeltwanger, Sabo, Sprague and Day. Giddy was able to close up on Townshend on the straights, but the daring late braking of Townshend was enough to keep Harry ahead lap after lap. His task seemed a little easier when Giddy fell back into the clutches of Zeltwanger late in the race, but Townshend had his eyes fixed on the prize and duly came home to his first ever win in a Toyota 86. 'It was an awesome race,' said Harry on the podium. 'I knew I had to get away well and not make any mistakes at all and still hope I had enough speed to win but it all came good. Behind Townshend, the battle was resolved right at the end in favour of Zeltwanger, while Giddy backed up his morning win with another podium. Sprague and Day battled throughout but would finish fourth and fifth while series newcomer Sabo rounded off an excellent first weekend in the category with sixth place. The field was completed by Nathan Grammer, Toby Elmiger and Noel Simpson. Zeltwanger has extended his lead in the Trophy Series points table, while Townshend now assumes the top spot in the chase for the Winter Series class. Toyota 86 Trophy Series – Round 2 Taupo Race 2 Grid 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 92 Antal Sabo Trophy RaceLab Academy 7 50 Nathan Grammer Trophy Mackenzie Motorsport 8 74 Toby Elmiger Trophy Action Motorsport 8 88 Noel Simpson Trophy Action Motorsport 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
