Fourteen-year-old Ajay Giddy of Auckland delivered a breakout weekend at Round 2 of the 2025/2026 Mazda Racing Super Series at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park in North Waikato, sweeping all three races and stamping his authority on the championship fight.
Day 1 – Giddy Takes Opening Victory
Giddy set the tone on Saturday by qualifying fastest, lining up alongside championship leader Callum Pratt on the front row. Behind them sat Tauranga’s Rex Edwards, Auckland’s Sam Dashfield, Dunedin’s James Black, and Simon Baker.
The opening race saw Edwards lead at the end of the first lap, with Giddy close behind and Pratt third. Pratt’s hopes unravelled early when his car went into limp mode on lap 2, dropping him down the order and ultimately shaping his difficult weekend.
At the front, Edwards and Giddy battled closely until lap 6, when Giddy made his move for the lead. From there, he controlled the race to win by 3.196 seconds, also setting the fastest lap with a 1:15.938. Edwards held second, with Dashfield, making his first appearance of the season, claiming third.
Black finished fourth ahead of Baker, while Alex Canty backed up his strong opening round with sixth. Jesse Gould and Steve Brown charged forward from 11th and 12th on the grid to take seventh and eighth, Brown also winning the Masters (Over 50) honours for the day.
Stu Lawton and Tomas Climo completed the top ten, with Bryan Walker just outside in eleventh.
Among the rookies, Rudi Kronstrom climbed from the back to finish sixteenth. Further back, Elton Wichman dropped down the order after a late fan belt failure, and Steven Spear battled overheating issues.
The Saturday result set the grid for Sunday’s reverse-top-10 opener, followed by a final race based on accumulated weekend points.
Day 2 – Giddy Sweeps the Weekend
Sunday brought even more action, with Giddy showcasing remarkable pace and composure to claim both remaining races and seal a perfect weekend.
The morning reverse-grid race placed him tenth on the starting order, while former champion Simon Baker took early control at the front. James Black briefly moved into the lead, but Giddy was rapidly slicing through the field.
By lap six he had taken control of the race, pulling clear to win by 6.182 seconds. Black held on for second, with Baker completing the podium after an early spell in front. Dashfield finished just behind them in fourth, while a tight battle further back saw Tomas Climo, Jesse Gould and a recovering Pratt complete the top seven.
The final race of the weekend, run over ten laps, saw Giddy start from pole based on accumulated points. He made no mistake when the lights went out, leading every lap and again building a comfortable margin to secure his third victory of the weekend.
He crossed the line 6.189 seconds ahead of Dashfield, who capped a strong weekend with second place, while Canty once again featured at the sharp end to finish third. Baker took another solid result in fourth, followed by Lawton, Climo and Pratt.
Pratt’s weekend had started disastrously with Saturday’s limp-mode setback, but two seventh-place finishes on Sunday helped limit the damage. He leaves Hampton Downs fourth in the championship, only seven points off the lead after arriving with the advantage.
Black endured a weekend of mixed fortunes. After strong results in the first two races, he slipped back early in the finale before fighting back to fourteenth. Edwards, who began the weekend with front-running pace, suffered a penalty on Sunday morning that dropped him to fourteenth, then failed to finish the final race. He now sits sixth in the standings.
Giddy was the top rookie for the weekend, ahead of Black and Climo, mirroring the current rookie championship order. In Masters, Baker was the leading competitor across the three races, ahead of Steve Brown and Nigel Edger. Brown now holds the Masters Series lead after previous leader Elton Wichman failed to finish Saturday’s opening race.
Giddy’s sweep secured him the round win ahead of Dashfield, with Baker joining them on the podium in third.
Despite not finishing on the round podium, Canty emerged as the new series leader with 191 points, just one clear of Giddy, while Lawton sits third on 186. The large field of twenty-seven drivers ensured close, competitive racing throughout the weekend and set the stage for a tightly contested championship fight going forward.
Emotional Tribute to Allan Moffat
Sunday morning’s Race 2 was preceded by a moving tribute, with the field following Stephen Armstrong’s Allan Moffat-liveried Mazda RX-7 on the formation lap before a minute’s silence.
Moffat, a four-time Australian Touring Car Champion and four-time Bathurst winner who famously raced a Mazda RX-7 to the 1983 ATCC title, passed away on Saturday.
Next Round
The Mazda Racing Super Series now takes a short break before heading south to Teretonga Park in Invercargill for Round 3, held as part of the NextGen New Zealand Championship from 23–25 January.
Header Image: Geoff Ridder
