Coatesville’s Ash Blewett has taken pole for the first race in an accident-marred qualifying session at the opening round of the 2016-2017 Toyota 86 Championship at Pukekohe.
He posted a 1:14.893 for the 2.82 km distance, almost a second under the category race lap record he set at Pukekohe in 2015.
“We had more speed to come but the kerbs here are hard on the car, most of the car gets air at times and we think we did some steering damage on a landing,” he said.
Christchurch driver Ryan Yardley had the early pace and was the first to break into the 1:14 second lap bracket. He was then overtaken by Ash Blewett who posted a lap just .003 seconds faster.
Newly crowned Australia Formula 4 champion Will Brown set a top three time on lap three but was then the first driver to have a heart-stopping off-track slide, spinning early in the turns two and three – the ‘esses’ – on lap four of the 20 minute session.
He slid the LightingPlus Toyota 86 across the infield grass, over a kerb ripple strip and onto the back straight, limping around to the pits to change damaged wheels and have the car checked over.
Yardley hung onto second fastest, with Brown’s third lap securing him third fastest.
The session was red flagged after Jacob Smith also spun at the esses, slamming the Tony Richards Toyota/Post Haste TR 86 heavily into the wall. The young Aucklander was shaken but unhurt, though the car had extensive panel damage on its left side and will require a full checkover and panel repairs before racing begins.
“I think we got loose on dirt thrown up by Will Brown. At first I thought it was just going to spin at two but then as it got back to the track it just seemed to speed up. At that point I knew it was going to be a big hit so I got my hands away from the wheel and tried to brace into the seat,” said Smith afterward.
Ash Blewett and Ryan Yardley share the front row of the grid for the first race tomorrow at 9.30 am. Behind them, the trans-Tasman battle sees Australian Will Brown line up alongside CareVets Scholarship winner Jack Milligan of Christchurch. The friendly rivalry continues further back in the grid with Australian racer Drew Ridge starting cautiously on P11 in his Albany Toyota Castrol car alongside former V8 Touring Car racer Matt Lockwood of Auckland.
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