Mount Albert’s Connor Adam, 20, has maintained a strong position in the 2018/19 Toyota 86 Championship after the second round at Pukekohe Park Raceway at the weekend.
Friday’s practice signalled how tight the competition would be with the top ten drivers being separated by less than one second on the time sheets. Adam ended practice third fastest, just less than two-tenths of a second from the fastest lap around the 2.8km circuit.
Saturday morning’s 20-minute Qualifying session was just as close. After setting a time just three-tenths of a second off pole position, his efforts would put him in seventh. The result was solid for Adam who was struggling with finding the sweet spot with his car’s setup and struggled to find a good run in the session.
“Qualifying was pretty good all things considered” Said Adam.
“I was concerned that we’d end up at the back of the grid with the understeer we had, but I’m glad we could salvage a solid result from it.”
Adam’s first race of the weekend was still plagued with handling issues, but despite the intense racing he held on to his starting position throughout the race to finish seventh.
Sunday morning’s 14 lap race showed a dramatic improvement for Adam after getting his Post Haste car back into its prime he moved from sixth on the grid to finish on the podium in third.
Looking forward to the final race of the weekend after a strong race prior, Adam, who started fifth, lost some positions early one and struggled to make his way back through the field in what was a crazy and super close 16 lap race.
“Sunday was definitely a better day for us!
“We got the car sorted for race two which saw us move forward and onto the podium which was great!
“Unfortunately in the final race we just lost too much track position and the racing was extra close which made it difficult to catch back up.”
While Adam relinquishes the championship lead he still sits in second with 364 points, just 14 points from the lead.
“While it wasn’t the ideal weekend for us, we still scored some valuable points and have a very strong position in the championship.”
Adam now takes a break for Christmas and New Years before getting back behind the wheel for the third round of the Toyota 86 Championship at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell on January 11-13.
