In the leadup to Saturday qualifying for the second round of the elite one-make series, Porsche Centre Motorsport Melbourne’s Jones led the way in Practice 1 posted a best time of 1:26.9654 before he went 0.3s faster in the second outing.

Second in both sessions was (and second in the points) Dale Woods for Earl Bamber Motorsport, as he trailed Jones by 0.2s while RAM Motorsport’s Dylan O’Keeffe was less than a tenth away and third.

Next best was Tom McLennan (EBM) ahead of teammate Glen Wood, Porsche Centre Melbourne’s Fabian Coulthard, and Nash Morris in the Scotty Taylor entry, run by Ashley Seward Motorsport.

They were followed by David Russell, Marco Giltrap and Jackson Walls with the top 10 at the first day on a new track, covered by 1.1s. In Pro-Am where the points leader is Adrian Flack, he continued to show the way with 16th overall from NZ’s Sam Fillmore and Dean Cook.

Qualifying for the sixth and final round of the Toyota 86 Championship NZ has featured several Australian drivers, and the regulars in the series were competing. Lachlan Bloxsom was the best of the visitors in practice, third behind Jackson Rooney and Thomas Bewley.

Rooney continued his form to top qualifying as well. William Exton was second from Ben Stewart, Hayden Bakkerus and Thomas Mallard. Bloxsom was sixth, Alice Buckley finished 14th and Summer Rintoule 21st.

The Central Muscle Cars had qualifying and as was the case in the earlier practice session, Anddy Knight was quickest in his Chev Camaro. He had margin of almost half a second on Angus Fogg in the Mustang he has been racing in Australia, in Sports Sedans and Touring Car Masters.

Third fastest was Nick Ross (Dodge Challenger) ahead of the Mustangs driven by Shane Holland and Nathan Anderson. Then followed Michael Wallace (Chev Monza), Tristan Teki, Steve Ross and James Broadbridge, all in Camaros. Andrew Anderson (Ford Falcon) didn’t get a lap in after he was second in practice.

In New Zealand Formula Fords, Sebastian Manson headed the combined practice sessions and then he topped qualifying as well. The Spectrum driver was 0.36s ahead of his nearest rivals which was headed by Zach Blincoe (Mygale0 with William Neale and Dylan Grant close behind in their Van Diemens.