Blewett fastest in Toyota Finance 86 Championship practice

| Photographer Credit: Bruce Jenkins

Aucklander Ash Blewett continues his dominant form in the fourth round of the 2015-2016 Toyota Finance 86 Championship, fastest in wet and dry at the Teretonga circuit near Invercargill.

Today at Teretonga, Blewett had been quickest in the first free practice session with a best of 1:12.524, was third in the second session behind Craig Innes and Callum Quin, then returned to form in the final session of the day with a 1:11.608.

The West City team has set out to make the championship its own this year, Blewett winning all three races at the first two rounds and two of three last weekend at Ruapuna, where former single-seater racer Michael Scott became the first to derail Blewett’s run to the title.

With three rounds of six complete, eight out of nine races going in his favour and top times today, Blewett is giving the impression of an unstoppable force in this year’s championship. A veteran single-make racer, he contested the BMW E30 series before stepping up to the Toyota Finance 86 Championship and his 2015-2016 championship form is raising the question: who can halt his headlong rush to the title?

In the masters stakes, the running is being made by John Penny, currently third overall in the championship and equally capable in wet or dry conditions. He set a best of 1:13.578, fourth fastest in session two.

Top rookie Jacob Smith is showing his skills in all conditions, coping with the mixed wet and dry sessions at Teretonga to set his best time of 1:12.369 in the third session.

The race weekend begins in earnest tomorrow morning at 9.35 am with a 20 minute qualifying session. The first 10-lap race is at 1.55 pm. Two further races on Sunday over 10 and 15 laps round out the weekend, with 75 points available for each race win.

Mark Baker has been working in automotive PR and communications for more than two decades. For much longer than that he has been a motorsport journalist, photographer and competitor, witness to most of the most exciting and significant motorsport trends and events of the mid-late 20th Century. His earliest memories of motorsport were trips to races at Ohakea in the early 1960s, and later of annual summer pilgrimages to watch Shellsport racers and Mini 7s at Bay Park and winter sorties into forests around Kawerau and Rotorua to see the likes of Russell Brookes, Ari Vatanen and Mike Marshall ply their trade in group 4 Escorts. Together with Murray Taylor and TV producer/director Dave Hedge he has been responsible for helping to build New Zealand’s unique Toyota Racing Series into a globally recognized event brand under category managers Barrie and Louise Thomlinson. Now working for a variety of automotive and mainstream commercial clients, Mark has a unique perspective on recent motor racing history and the future career paths of our best and brightest young racers.

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