Ice cool Allen takes feature race win at Teretonga

Justin Allen became the only driver to clock up a second victory this season in his Toyota GR86 with a fine win in the final race of the weekend at Teretonga Park.

He won by just over 0.2 of a second to maintain his strong form in the Bridgestone GR86 Championship  and close the gap on the series leaders. Championship rivals Hayden Bakkerus and Hugo Allan came home third and seventh respectively in another closely-fought and action-packed race.

“We had enough pace to just hold them,” said a relaxed Allen afterwards. “I’d definitely have liked more but yes, I felt pretty comfortable out there.”

With the grid formed on fastest lap times in Race 1 and Race 2 it was Allen and Barnes on the front row and they both got away cleanly. With the advantage of the inside line into the first turn,  it was the former who took the lead. Further back starting 13^th, Hugo Allan made a good start and made up a few places too.

At the end of the first lap it was Allen, Barnes, Australia’s Lachlan Evennett, championship leader Hayden Bakkerus, Arthur Broughan, Harry Townshend, Chris White, Caleb Byers, Dion Pitt and a fired up Allan. At the front Allen couldn’t build an early lead and had his mirrors absolutely full of Barnes and Evennett. Barnes, the morning race winner, was jinking right and left looking for a way round the series veteran as the cars behind him began to stack up in the early laps.

By lap four there were no fewer than five cars nose-to-tail in the battle for the lead. Byers exited the battle and the track at the end of the lap, promoting White and Townshend to sixth and seventh respectively,. Allen got a break a couple of laps later when Barnes fell back suddenly but it was only brief respite as Evennett was quickly on Justin’s rear bumper too. Bakkerus also made it by Barnes but all eyes were on the front as Evennett piled on the pressure, going side-by-side with Allen on lap seven as he put serious pressure on the NAPA Autoparts GR86.

Further back CareVets Racing’s Hugo Allan was making great progress – up to eighth and pushing as hard as he could to narrow the gap to Bakkerus – starting the race one point ahead in the championship table.  The Safety Car came out again on lap ten when Townshend and Emerson Vincent touched dramatically at the end of the straight and spun off at high speed into the entry of turn one. Fortunately, both drivers emerged unscathed, and Townshend was able to continue at the back.

With two more laps to get back up to speed before the Safety Car came in, it all boiled down to a sprint to the end, and in a time certain race that meant a reduction from 20 laps to 15. As the field got the green light Allen went early and made a good start to quickly take a two car length lead over Evennett.

Evennett and Bakkerus were quickly back where they had been before the red flag though, which meant Allen was quickly back into a defensive mode. Further back Ajay Giddy was having his best race in the championship holding station comfortably in the top ten.

Nobody tried anything too dramatic on what would end up being the final lap and Allen came home just three tenths of a second ahead of Evennett, who was half a second in front of Bakkerus. Behind them it was Barnes, an impressive Broughan, White then Allan after a fantastic drive, Dion Pitt, Giddy and Zach Blincoe.

Also noteworthy was the performance of Cameron Hill, pressing the series spare car into action after his own was damaged in a crash in the morning race. By the time the Safety Car came out at the half way point of the race, he had fought his way through to 16^th.  By the end he had made up a further two places to 14^th.

2024-2025 Bridgestone GR86 Championship – Round 3 Teretonga – Race 3 Result