Cameron Hill became the sixth winner in six races so far of the Bridgestone GR86 Championship this afternoon at Hampton Downs, officially giving new team Right Karts by M2 Competition its first series win.
There was drama at the start of the race after a crash brought out the red flag, but Hill kept everything under control and made the most of the moment when his car was the class of a very evenly-matched field to win.
With a grid determined by fastest laps in the first and second races, it was Hill on pole position with Action Motorsport’s Emerson Vincent – emerging as a consistent contender – alongside him on the front row. The second row would see Cooper Barnes start third and Josh Bethune fourth.
Championship leader Hugo Allan in his RaceLab Academy car had the inside of row three for the start, with top Master class runner Simon Hunter alongside for his best starting position of the championship.
Hill made a great start to take the lead ahead of Barnes with Vincent tucking behind after turn one in third. Allan also made a great start to go fourth and put Bethune behind him while Hunter was another to get away well and claim an early sixth.
A few hundred metres down the road, however, Ajay Giddy, Alice Buckley and Thomas Mallard made contact which left the latter with damage and forced the former out.
A few seconds later reigning Formula Ford champion Blake Knowles and Hayden Lines made even heavier contact which brought out the Safety Car and put both out on the spot. Such was the damage that race officials showed the red flag and that meant a restart in order under the Safety Car.
As the GR Supra Safety car made its way off track at the end of the restart lap, four laps of a scheduled 12 had been completed and it was Hill who led way with the rest bunched up tightly behind. The four cars behind Hill were fighting extremely hard as they crossed the line and after the first full racing lap it was Hill from Barnes – just – ahead of Vincent, Allan and Bethune.
The rest were led by Hayden Bakkerus who was the front car in a nose-to-tail train that went all the way to Mallard and Buckley at the back.
Allan had the car with race pace and was the man on the move as the race settled down, making a great pass on Vincent early on lap six. That moved him to fourth and he quickly latched onto the rear bumper of Barnes. A lap later Bethune had muscled his way past Vincent too. At the front Hill had built a worthwhile lead of just under a second which he took into the second half of the race. Further back, Bakkerus fell away from a charging Bethune and started to focus on protecting fifth.
Officials called the final lap early and it saw Allan spring into further action, passing Barnes in style to grab a late second. Unfortunately for the CareVets Scholarship racer, he thought he saw a yellow flag and made the quick decision to give the place back.
Afterwards he said: “I wasn’t sure but I thought it would be better to finish third than nowhere after a penalty.” It was a mature call from the youngster, who extended his lead in the championship after six races to a handy 57 points over Bakkerus.
Hill finished a comfortable – by Bridgestone GR86 racing standards – couple of car lengths ahead and took his first win in style to become the sixth different winner in six races in this remarkable championship.
Behind the top three, Bethune took another important fourth place ahead of Bakkerus who held off Mason Potter in sixth, Vincent in seventh, Hunter in eighth – taking his first Master class round win on the way – Zach Blincoe in ninth. Saturday winner Justin Allen rounded out the top ten in a race where just 16 seconds covered the top 20 finishers.
Header Image: Bruce Jenkins (Toyota Gazoo Racing)
