Arthur Broughan – who was the man to beat back in November at the first round – showed he will be a force to be reckoned with this weekend at Highlands for the fourth round of the Bridgestone GR86 Championship.
Broughan was fastest in two of the three practice sessions at the track today, and second in the other.
At a circuit he enjoys immensely, reigning champion Hugo Allan got his weekend off to the best possible start with the fastest time on the first of Friday’s three official practice sessions. He was closely followed by Arthur Broughan – one of the early pacesetters in this season’s championship.
Behind those two were the series leaders, Chris White and Zach Blincoe, emerging as the season’s major title challengers. It was also no surprise to see youngster Ajay Giddy close to the top of the timesheets again, along with Simon Hunter, leading the charge in the session for Right Karts by M2 Competition.
Harry Townshend was seventh fastest with a resurgent Justin Allen – winner at Teretonga last weekend – eighth ahead of Right Karts’ Cooper Barnes and Josh Bethune. Allen was delighted to be finding some consistent form again and to be back consistently in the lead pack.
Rookie Lucas McGill went well to go 12th fastest while series debutant Nieko Scoles – who has plenty of laps around the track from Clubmans racing under his belt – was 15th.
Broughan looked well at home in the second session, hustling his car spectacularly each lap through the circuit’s fast first chicane. It paid off, too, with Arthur clocking the best time of the session. Giddy improved his pace relative to the others, posting the second-fastest time, while Allan and Allen were third and fourth.
Harry Townshend got himself ahead of Blincoe and White to go fifth ahead of the two championship protagonists, while Bethune was just behind those two, seemingly struggling a little for ultimate pace around the challenging 4.1km track. Teammate Cooper Barnes was next, and Mac Templeton, White’s teammate at Neale Motorsport, made the top ten too.
Broughan stamped his relative authority on the day by topping the final session of the day, eclipsing Allan and White. Harry Townshend was the surprise performer of the final session, putting in his best performance of the day to go fourth.
Giddy was fifth, and Bethune made great strides in the session too, finishing sixth. Normal service looks to have been resumed for Justin Allen – in the top ten again in seventh, while Zach Blincoe would have hoped to be closer to the front in the final session of the day. He was eighth fastest.
Header Image: Bruce Jenkins
