After a quick break, the 2025-2026 Bridgestone GR86 Championship runners will hit the track for the third round this weekend, and the first of two back-to-back rounds that could shape the rest of the championship.
The field takes to the most southerly circuit on the calendar – Teretonga – before heading to Cromwell next weekend to support the New Zealand Grand Prix meeting at Highlands Motorsport Park.
Chris White heads to Invercargill with a slim 3–point lead over Zach Blincoe. Josh Bethune sits third in the points, and 14-year-old Ajay Giddy fourth. Leader after the first round, Arthur Broughan, has been pushed down to fifth after a weekend of hard racing at Hampton Downs.
White was the class act at Hampton for Neale Motorsport, overcoming illness to win the round and take the series lead. The Christchurch team will be aiming to go even better at this South Island track – a venue they should know exceptionally well –, and White will be raring to go as last year’s Rookie champion tries to take a stranglehold on this year’s overall title.
That’s going to be as tough as it ever was in the Bridgestone GR86 Championship, however, as any one of the next seven or eight drivers stacked up behind him on the points table could land a major counter-punch and stake their claim to the title.
Blincoe is a class act, quick everywhere, has good racecraft, and is doing what it takes to do well in this championship by racking up good results after good results. He will be a contender this weekend for absolute certain and barring disaster, will leave with another haul of points – that’s just the type of driver he is.
Bethune is another with a huge degree of talent and is the one driver who seems to be able to wring the most out of his car on any given day. He races hard and, like Blincoe, rarely makes mistakes on track. Look no further than the Right Karts by M2 Competition driver to be a major contender in every session and a potential race and round winner this weekend.
Giddy has been consistent too, and is also due a win or two. That could happen at Invercargill if he qualifies well. Broughan will be hoping to be nearer the front this weekend than at Hampton Downs, while Aussie Cooper Barnes got his season back on track with a win at Hampton.
Reigning champion Hugo Allan has plenty of time to mount an effective title defence, but will need to run mistake-free to make the most of his undoubted speed in races. Lee Zeltwanger continues to improve and will be tough to beat in the Rookie battle this weekend, while Harry Townshend will just be hoping for better luck. He has both the speed and the race craft now to win.
Further back, watch out for continued improvement from Neale Motorsport’s other charge, Mac Templeton, and don’t rule out a return to the winner’s circle this weekend for Justin Allen after a quieter start to this year’s championship than usual. A new addition this weekend for the two South Island rounds at least is Queensland racer Jack Szewczuk, a regular racer in Australia’s GR Cup.
There’s official practice on Friday and qualifying on Saturday morning, with the two best times each driver clocks in the session defining their starting positions for the first race and the feature race on Sunday. In between, there will be the reverse grid race on Sunday morning, which puts the top eight finishers from Saturday’s race back-to-front on the grid.
Header Image: Joel Hanks
