Latest news with #TaupoWinterSeries
Scoop
6 days ago
- Automotive
- 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
Scoop
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Scoop
Giddy Storms To Race 1 Victory
Giddy was beaten off the line by series newcomer Antal Sabo, who started alongside him on the front row of the grid. Antal made the best start in his RaceLab Academy entry and led confidently around the first lap but Ajay had him under pressure quickly and Sabo's lack of race experience showed when he went into Turn One too quickly on the defensive line, went wide on the exit and allowed the front runners through. Giddy never looked back and raced away from a chasing Harry Townshend and Lee Zeltwanger to score maximum points in the Winter class for drivers who raced in the main Bridgestone GR 86 Championship while Zeltwanger extended his Trophy class lead with another classy podium result. Townshend put in a solid drive for another second place, resisting pressure from Zeltwanger before edging away by a few car lengths in the final couple of laps. Race victory however, belonged to Giddy, who remains not only the youngest driver in Toyota 86 racing in NZ, and the youngest to win a race, but also one of the country's youngest and most promising rising stars. 'That's great to get the first win and after Antal made his mistake it was just a question of me not making any either. The car was very good though,' said a delighted Giddy afterwards. Sabo showed plenty of speed but a similar mistake at turn one later in the race defending his fourth position pushed him back to sixth in the overall results behind CareVets Scholarship racer Corban Sprague and DAYLE ITM driver Matt Day. Action Motorsport duo Toby Elmiger and Noel Simpson finished seventh and eighth while Nathan Grammer completed the runners in ninth - making it to the chequered flag despite having a slow puncture. Toyota 86 Trophy Series – Round 2 Taupo Race 1 Grid Car # Driver name Trophy / Winter Team 1 10 Ajay Giddy Winter Mackenzie Motorsport 2 73 Harry Townshend Winter Mackenzie Motorsport 3 22 Lee Zeltwanger Trophy Skunkworks Racing 4 84 Corban Sprague Trophy iMac Engineering 5 100 Matt Day Trophy Dayle ITM Racing 6 92 Antal Sabo Trophy RaceLab Academy 7 74 Toby Elmiger Trophy Action Motorsport 8 88 Noel Simpson Trophy Action Motorsport 9 50 Nathan Grammer Trophy Mackenzie 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
Scoop
10-05-2025
- Automotive
- Scoop
Zeltwanger Takes Debut Win
Saturday, 10 May 2025, 2:58 pm Press Release: TOYOTA GAZOO Racing New Zealand Harry Townshend leads the field but Lee Zeltwanger took the spoils. Photo: Bruce Jenkins. Winter series class racer Townshend was simply too eager to get away from the lights quickly and picked up a five second penalty. Lee tucked in behind and for two laps the two enjoyed an entertaining battle for the lead but the damage to Townshend's race was done. Harry simply didn't have the speed to build a five second margin on Zeltwanger and after a couple of attempts to pass the Bridgestone GR86 Championship racer, Lee contented himself sitting in close proximity to the leader and counted down the eight laps to the flag. After taking pole position in the morning, he was delighted to secure an impressive first win. 'I knew early on that Harry had picked up a penalty,' he said afterwards. 'But I like to try and win on the road so I had a couple of goes at passing him, but the win was more important in the end so I was happy to tuck in behind and stay nice and close.' Behind the two leaders, Corbyn Sprague improved further on his qualifying performance and went one better to beat Ajay Giddy to the flag. That third became second in the final results with Townshend's penalty and that five seconds was also enough to promote Giddy to the final place on the podium and the Winter Series class win. Sprague was satisfied with the result after having only limited running in the CareVets TR86. 'I genuinely haven't had a lot of time in the car and I am still very much learning it and building a relationship with the team, we are getting faster every time we go out on the track so I am pretty happy with second and we know there is much more to come.' Townshend's penalty dropped him to an eventual fourth. Fifth should have been Matt Day in the Dayle ITM TR86 but he was another to jump the gun at the start and also copped a five second penalty. That put Noel Simpson fifth overall ahead of Toby Elmiger after a fine battle midfield, with Nathan Grammer seventh, Kyan Davie eighth, Day ninth and Conley Webley rounding out the top ten. Toyota 86 Trophy Series – Round 1 Hampton Downs Qualifying Grid Car # Driver name Trophy / Winter Team 1 22 Lee Zeltwanger Trophy Lee Zeltwanger 2 84 Corban Sprague Trophy iMac Engineering 3 10 Ajay Giddy Winter Mackenzie Motorsport 4 73 Harry Townshend Winter Mackenzie Motorsport 5 88 Noel Simpson Trophy Action Motorsport 6 74 Toby Elmiger Trophy Action Motorsport 7 50 Nathan Grammer Trophy Mackenzie Motorsport 8 19 Kyan Davie Trophy Mackenzie Motorsport 9 100 Matt Day Trophy Dayle ITM Racing 10 18 Conley Webley 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 Visit us: © Scoop Media
Scoop
09-05-2025
- Automotive
- Scoop
Winter Is Coming And The TR86s Return To Do Battle
The cut and thrust of Toyota TR86 racing – so long a New Zealand favourite - returns this weekend at Hampton Downs as the brand new Toyota 86 Trophy Series gets underway. The TR86 model – one of New Zealand's most popular sports cars – provided race fans with thrilling action until the new GR86 racer was introduced for last season. The iconic TR86 races on, however, in the all-new four round winter series which takes on Hampton Downs, Manfeild and two visits to the Taupo circuit. Two classes compete for race wins, the Trophy Class covers most of the field but the Winter Series class is for those drivers who have raced in the Bridgestone GR 86 Championship or equivalent series. Practice takes place on Friday and all of the qualifying and race action will take place on Saturday. A 20 minute qualifying session for the field – a 10 car opener for the first round – is followed by the first race, an eight lapper. The second 10 lap race later in the day will have a grid formed on the fastest times the drivers clock in the first race. There's plenty of quality in the field too. Corbyn Sprague and Conley Webley come from the South Island and bring plenty of pedigree while the performances of Nathan Grammer, Toby Elmiger and Lee Zeltwanger will also be under the spotlight. Endurance racer Kyan Davie and former TR86 Championship racer Noel Simpson could also go well and watch out for young Matt Day, racing the ex- Orr-West TR86 in its familiar Dayle ITM yellow livery for the family team. The Winter Series class features two drivers who both scored podium finished in the GR86 Championship, Harry Townshend and young Ajay Giddy. Both know the Bridgestone tyre that is being used in the Winter Series and can be expected to go well. Townshend will be reunited with the TR86 he drove for two seasons before switching to the GR86 for his 2024-2025 championship campaign. 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
Scoop
09-05-2025
- Automotive
- Scoop
‘Veteran' Zeltwanger Aiming For Winter Success Aboard Toyota 86
Press Release – Toyota New Zealand With fifteen years of experience in the sport at the age of just 23, Massey racer Lee Zeltwanger has plenty of experience to take into a winter campaign in the Toyota 86 Trophy Series. An all-round sports fanatic who also plays seven-a-side and eleven-a-side soccer, Lee is a graduate in sports exercise, nutrition and management and likes working on the cars he races as well as driving them. He's had plenty of success in those 15 years on the motorsport scene too, as he explained. 'I have been in motorsport for 15 years, and started when I was seven years old in karts. In 2018 I moved away from karts and into car racing starting in the BMW Race Driver Series in the E30 class. 'I enjoyed racing in that for three years and then moved into the BMW E46 class for another three seasons. Some highlights were definitely winning the North Island Championship in 2014 in the Junior restricted class and winning the Kapellen Trophy in Rotax mini in Switzerland in 2012. I won City of Sails, was second at the CIK trophy of NZ, was Auckland club champion and won races in both the BMW E30 and E46 classes. 'Now, though, I have my eyes set on the Toyota 86 Trophy Series.' All-rounder Zeltwanger will run his own Toyota 86 in the four round series, which begins this weekend at Hampton Downs and he is determined to do well against high quality opposition. 'My objective is of course to try win the series but also be consistent and finish every race to maximise points,' he added. 'Another objective is winning the scholarship that is available to the winner to do a season in the new Toyota 86 cars in the Bridgestone GR86 Championship. That would be amazing.' Lee will contest the series, which also races at Manfeild and at Taupo International Motorsport Park twice, with the help of Timberworld East Tamaki, Euro West Limited, Solimara NZ Ltd, SKUNKWORKS and the Automoves Racing Team. 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
