Toyota 86 champ to be decided at Bathurst

The Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia 86 Series culminates this weekend with the fifth and final round at Bathurst.

Campbell Logan leads the series by 26 points over Speedcafe-supported driver Ryan Casha.

Tasmanian Logan and Cody Burcher, from nearby Orange in New South Wales, have each won three of the dozen races contested so far this season. Queenslander Casha has chalked up two which included the series’ historic 100th event in Townsville.

After three rounds Casha was over 80 points ahead of his rivals, but the fourth round at Sandown changed all that after he had an accident in Practice 1.

“That set us back for the whole weekend,” he said after he finished 10th overall.

“It was not how we wanted the round to go, we were a session behind from there and had to work our way forward through the three races.”

Casha started his career racing dirt karts before a couple of years in Excels, and then Toyotas.

He still races in Excels and most recently won the first of two enduros at Queensland Raceway with Connor Roberts before they finished second in the other.

He also uses the Excel to familiarise himself with any new circuits the Toyotas go to for track knowledge.

“The hard part is then to jump out of a front wheel drive Excel to the rear wheel drive 86 and be quick.”

The will to win has not been dampened and he is fully focused on Bathurst.

He rates Campbell and Burcher as very competitive along with his own team-mate Rylan Gray who has won one race this year.

He also respects the efforts of 15-year-old Ryan Tomsett who has also been a race winner.

Clay Richards looked solid in taking out the first race at the previous Sandown round and was on track for a big result but was thwarted by a puncture in Race 2.

Scholarship Series driver Ben Stewart has won a drive at Bathurst in the Toyotas 86 finale and will be joined by former Indy Lights competitor New Zealander Christina Orr-West in the guest cars.

Round 5 starts on Thursday with practice sessions at 08:25 AEDT and 12:45. Qualifying is early on Friday at 07:25 ahead of Race 1 at 12:35. The second race is scheduled for 14:45 Saturday and Race 3 at 08:30 Sunday.