New Zealand Toyota 86 champions Brock Gilchrist and Rylan Gray have made a statement on the world stage with a strong showing in their ADAC GT4 Germany cameo at Nürburgring. Gilchrist was rewarded with the drive of the Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO for claiming the overall 2023 Toyota 86 title, while Gray joined him as the top rookie.
Following a strong showing in practice, where they topped the first session and were third in the second, Gilchrist went on to qualify sixth out of 29 cars for the opening race.
Wet weather made for a treacherous track in Race 1, with Gilchrist taking the first stint and dropping back to ninth on his first time on the track in wet conditions in the Supra GT4. He quickly found a rhythm to return to the top six.
Gilchrist would jump into the pits to hand over to Gray during a mid-race Safety Car, and the team changed to slick tyres in drying conditions. Unfortunately, the gamble wouldn’t pay off when showers returned, forcing Gray to stop again to switch to wets, dropping him down to 25th.
He would recover and make some passes to bring the car home 20th, the risk of changing to slick tyres seeing the duo fall short of their goal of a top-ten finish.
“Everything got thrown at us in that race from having to change the tyres on the grid when it started to rain to driving the car for the first time on wets at the start of the race,” said Gilchrist afterwards.
“It was a big learning experience. There was literally no vision on the straight, so I was happy to bring it back in sixth after my stint. Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way in the end, but we gave it a good go and I’m still very happy. We do have strong pace to take into tomorrow.”
“The race today was okay, really,’ Gray said. “Brock got off to a good start and kept us in the top ten. We made a tough decision in the pits, and it wasn’t the right one, but we did have great pace, and I think we can be confident about tomorrow. There are definitely some things we can learn from the race, though and put that to use tomorrow.
Gray took to the track to qualify for Sunday’s race, replicating Gilchrist’s result to qualify the car sixth for this morning’s race.
As was also the case the day before, treacherous conditions saw the race begin behind the Safety Car, with the Toyota 86 champions able to complete their goal and bring the car home in tenth.
Header Image: GRay, Gilchrist and some of the KCMG & Toyota Gazoo Racing team. Image: Supplied (Toyota Gazoo Racing NZ)
