Ajay Giddy dominates wet Bridgestone GR86 qualifying at Teretonga

The youngest driver in the Bridgestone GR86 field – Ajay Giddy – showed his considerable wet-weather skills around a soaked Teretonga Park this morning to take pole position for both the first race and the Sunday feature race.

The bad weather arrived as predicted early on Saturday morning in Invercargill, meaning any form shown over the previous two days of testing and practice was largely irrelevant.

With lap times around eight seconds off the dry weather pace, it was reigning champion Hugo Allan who threw down the gauntlet early in the session with a 1 minute 15.9, a quarter of a second up on Giddy.

Championship leader Chris White was next to put in a good time, carving around a second off Allan’s previous best with Neale Motorsport team mate Mac Templeton popping up in second before Arthur Broughan then clocked second fastest time with Allan taking half a second off his previous best to be fourth fastest. Then it was wet weather specialist Justin Allen and the first of the Right Karts by M2 Competition drivers, Australian Cooper Barnes.

A red flag came out at the seven-minute mark after Lee Zeltwanger went off, and the session resumed with seven minutes to go, leaving the drivers limited time to get tyre temperature and pressure before a big final effort over two or three laps.

White looked strongest as the session resumed and improved his best to sit fastest by four tenths before Ajay Giddy turned the timesheets purple with a lap that pipped Chris’s time by just five hundredths of a second.

Zach Blincoe then showed his wet-weather skills to go third before Giddy put in his best lap – a stunning six-tenths better than the rest. With three minutes to go, another red flag came out when Simon Hunter went off at turn 1, and that brought the session to an early end. Afterwards, Broughan and newcomer Australian Jack Szewczuk would be excluded from the results due to technical infringements.

What it all meant was that Giddy would take pole for the feature race on Sunday with his fastest time, and pole position for the first race with his second-fastest time. Series leader Chris White has the outside of the front row for both race 1 and the feature race.

2025-2026 Bridgestone GR86 Championship – Round 3 – Qualifying Times Race 1

*Car 186 and Car 42 will have three place grid penalty for causing red flags.
**Car 222 and Car 39 results excluded due to technical infringement.

2025-2026 Bridgestone GR86 Championship – Round 3 – Qualifying times feature race

**Car 222 and Car 39 results excluded due to technical infringement

Header Image: Joel Hanks