A top three in the last gave the Australians the points lead in the two-round TA2 Trans-Tasman Challenge.

As in the first race on Saturday, Herne was chased by Ben Stewart (Camaro) before the New Zealand pulled to the pits with a broken axle which ended up hurting the differential. That left Graham Cheney (Aus, Camaro) to take second.

Brad Gartner (Challenger) started 10th and charged through to third. But he was hit with a 10s penalty for contact that spun Brent Collins (NZ, Challenger). Collins had locked up and was loose when the contact happened, and the penalty was overturned.

Initially given third, Collins filled fourth ahead of the Peter Ward (NZ, Camaro) and Mark Crutcher (Aus, Ford Mustang) who were the respective team captains.

The grid for the final 20 lap feature was based on combined points from Race 1 and 2. Herne gapped the field quickly. Cheney also established a margin on Collins who had Gardner and Crutcher close behind.

It took several laps for Gardner to grab third which he held to the end. Crutcher placed fourth as the Aussies filled the top spots ahead of Ward who conceded places as his tyre life dwindled.

“It’s cool to engineer your own car and see how it goes,” Herne said.

“The Kiwis did a good job at hosting us and it was great to have an Australian one, two, three to finish the weekend. I definitely think they will bring more heat come Highlands Motorsport Park next weekend.”

The Australians did not fair as well in the Toyota 86 Championship. Lockie Bloxam was second after the start of Race 2 before he became involved in several scraps, ultimately bumped off and finished 10th. Alice Buckley started 14th, dropped a spot but did get it back by the end, and Summer Rintoule improved five places from 20th.

The last race had two Safety Cars, the first on the first lap in which Bloxsom was involved when turned around and hit by New Zealand stalwart John Penny. Bloxsom was able to resume in last before a second Safety Car when Harry Townshend and Tayler Bryant had to be retrieved from the gravel trap.

Buckley was the beneficiary of the carnage, up to as high as sixth before she finished eighth. Bloxsom improved to 14th while Rintoule had to pit to replace a wheel and finished 19th.