New Zealand’s Ben Stewart drove to race honours in the opening Toyota 86 Scholarship Series race at Sydney Motorsport Park over the weekend. The Kiwi teenager finished on the podium in Race 2 before coming home fifth in Race 3 despite suffering an ABS failure.
It was Stewart’s second round in the series, following a difficult debut at Queensland Raceway, where he suffered misfortunes across all three races.
However, it was a different story from the outset this round, with Stewart setting the benchmark in qualifying with a 1:47.5879, topping Mason Harvey by 0.1540 seconds to claim pole.
“Qualifying is really difficult in this series because, with the tyres, you get one lap to do your best, really, until it drops off,” he told Velocity News. “I stuffed it up in Queensland because I only qualified eighth and didn’t make the most of the new tyre, but this time I knew what I had to do.”
Stewart, who won the North Island, South Island and New Zealand Mazda Racing Series titles in 2021/22, got a good launch in the opener to hold the lead from lights-to-flag, withstanding late challenges from Porsche Sprint Challenge and Toyota 86 regular Lachlan Bloxsom and teammate Mason Harvey.
“To come back after a disappointing weekend, put it on pole, and win the first race showed I’ve got the pace to run up front in a competitive series,” he said.
“The race was really hard; it was 12 laps, which is quite long for these cars, so it was about managing the tyre because it was really hot. By the end of the race, everyone was in the same boat, sliding around with no grip. It was probably the hardest race I’ve ever done.”
He would then go on to lead off the pole in Race 2 before eventually being overcome by Bloxsom and Ryan Tomsett to come home third.
In the weekend’s finale, he was holding third before being hit in the rear at Turn 2, the damage resulting in him dropping down to fifth by race end. A victory, third and fifth, sees Stewart finish the round third.
“I got a pretty good start in Race 2, but we just didn’t quite get the pressures right, so the car didn’t really come on,” he said. “Still, to get a podium was really good.
“Unfortunately, in the last race, we got a massive hit at Turn 2 on Lap 1, which caused the ABS to fail, so we had to nurse it all the way home so I could only finish fifth.
“It was a mega weekend, and there’s so much to take away. I’m pretty stoked about it.”
Stewart now faces an anxious wait to see if he will be one of five drivers selected from the series to compete for a fully-funded Toyota 86 Championship drive at Bathurst next month in support of the Bathurst 1000.
Header Image: David James Photography
