Giddy hangs on for race two win at Hampton Downs

Fifteen-year-old Ajay Giddy – one of the rising stars in New Zealand motorsport – took his first win of the 2026 Toyota 86 Trophy Series in fine style at Hampton Downs this morning.

Giddy led from the go after making his second perfect start of the weekend and held off a charging Nieko Scoles for victory. 

“It was a really good race, and Nieko never let me rest,” he said afterwards.

“I got another good start, and that was really the foundation of the win.  I can’t wait for the race this afternoon, it’ll be another close one.”

Scoles had started from his second pole position of the weekend and challenged Mackenzie Motorsport team mate Giddy throughout the eight-lap race, looking like he had the faster car throughout. But Giddy was in no mood to let him by, and the duel only intensified as the race wore on after an early Safety Car.

Mark Mallard had run wide on the first turn and made contact with Riley Boswell as he came back onto the track, putting himself into a spin. Boswell was able to carry on at undiminished speed.

Further back, Josh Hill struck trouble on the opening lap too. Driveshaft dramas slowed him within a couple of corners of the start. He tried to push on in his Right Karts by M2 Competition entry, but ground to a halt at Turn 9 – the downhill sweeper – on the opening lap and brought out the Safety Car.

With his car moved safely out of the way, the race resumed at the start of lap three, and the two leaders sped away, leaving a fierce battle behind that was initially led by Toby Elmiger.

Taylor Mitchell, however, showed he is another emerging talent as he fought his way through to third past Elmiger and broke away from the pack as he closed in on the leaders. Just like the Saturday race, he ran out of time to catch Giddy and Scoles, but could be well-satisfied with a strong third place.

Elmiger managed to hold off a charging group of cars behind him to take fourth, just holding off Riley Boswell, who once again had an impressive run in a car run by just himself and his father. That fifth place will see him start on pole position in the afternoon’s reverse top-five format feature race.

Riley came home just a couple of tenths of a second ahead of Saturday’s winner, Nathan Grammer, while Mallard recovered to re-join the battle and take seventh. Mark would later get a time penalty for his first-lap move.

Mitch Vye was once again right in the thick of the action in eighth, while Marcel Bartley closed in on the pack relative to his Saturday race and was only a second off Mitch’s rear bumper at the chequered flag – and only six seconds off the race winner.

2026 Toyota 86 Trophy Series – Round 1 Hampton Downs – Race 2

Header Image: Bruce Jenkins