Scoles takes victory and sets up big Trophy Series finish

Invercargill’s Nieko Scoles took his third – and most important – victory in the 2026 Toyota 86 Trophy Series at Manfeild – Circuit Chris Amon this morning – and set up a dramatic showdown for the final race of the season later today.

A great start by Scoles saw him take second at the start behind leader Riley Boswell, and he pressured Boswell’s yellow car throughout the race until the sixth lap when he found a way past. Nieko reckoned it was his best win so far in the series.

“It probably was the best win,” he said. “I got a mean launch, made a great start and got great traction away from the line which got me up to second.

“Full respect to Riley, he had plenty of pace in that race but I was able to get by. I think that puts me in a strong position for the final race and I’ll be aiming to do exactly the same in that one and go out and win.”

With the grid for the morning race determined by fastest laps during Saturday’s action-packed race, it was the star performer of that 10-lapper Boswell on pole position with Josh Hill – another to stage a major recovery during the Saturday race – starting alongside.

Boswell made the best start and led for the first half of the race before Scoles got by and he looked set for second until the start of lap nine when Nathan Grammer made an excellent pass to take the spot.

Toby Elmiger – leader in the Winter Series class – had a fine race, starting at the back and making his way through the field to what was an eventual fourth place.

Hill dropped back early from his front row start and was down in fourth after four laps before losing that spot to the flying Elmiger and coming home in fifth. It wasn’t all bad news for Hill, however, as he will start from pole position in the series’ final race thanks to the reverse top five grid format.

Sixth was Miles Baker after a very busy race in the midfield and Tayler Mitchell – one of the protagonists in the fight for both the Trophy and Winter Series titles – managed to salvage seventh after a tough race in the second half of the field.

Marcel Bartley came off worse in the mid-field battle to come home a bruised eighth, with Mark Mallard ninth and last of the runners.

In the Trophy points, Scoles goes into the final race with an eight point advantage over Mitchell, with Boswell only 18 points further back. With 75 points for a win, the career changing prize will go down to the wire.

2026 Toyota 86 Trophy Series – Round 4 – Manfeild – Race 2