Shop
Round two of both series are being staged at Manfeild – Circuit Chris Amon on the North island as part of the third round of the Super Sprint Motorsport NZ Championship.
Poland-born Roman Bilinski was dominant in the first CTFROC race. He won comfortably ahead of Italy’s Nicola Lacorte and local Liam Sceats in a M2 Competition team one-two-three in the 300th race in what began as the Toyota Race Series.
Giles Motorsport’s Christian Mansell was the best placed Trans-Tasman visitor. He qualified second and close behind lights-to-flag leader Bilinski until had a suspected electrical issue on Lap 5 and dropped Mansell to ninth.
In the latter part of the race, after started, Mansell had a late resurgence where he was able to finish fifth, just behind teammate Kaleb Ngatoa (NZ).
Tommy Smith (MTEC Motorsport) qualified seventh and was able to push through to fifth before he finished sixth after passed by Mansell late in the race. Smith’s teammate Elliott Cleary showed promise when he fastest in one practice session. He qualified 13th but lost three places in the early going and ultimately to the chequered flag in 15th.
In the first race for the 86s, Tom Bewley was first across the line but a 5s start line infringement relegated him to fourth. John Penny was handed victory after he scored his first-every pole position. He won from Hunter Robb and Jackson Rooney.
The Australian contingent of Alice Buckley, Lockie Bloxsom and Summer Rintoule qualified 12th, 13th and 18th respectively.
A great opening stanza from Bloxsom elevated him to 10th where he remained for the duration. Buckley lost three places early before she fought back to 12th while Rintoule also lost places in the opening laps, climbed to 17th before ultimately placed 23rd.
The NZ Championships continue on Sunday with a further two races for both categories.
