Justin Allen wins final race, takes the round honours

After winning the first Toyota 86 race of the weekend Justin Allen has taken a second to leave Pukekohe with the round win while also closing in on the top two in the championship. 

With a win and sixth place result from the first two races, Allen began the race on pole position, with Marco Giltrap alongside. 

Allen led the race early, but it was Simon Evans that got the best start moving into third ahead of Matthew McCutcheon. 

Rowan Shepherd had a strong opening lap after starting the race from eighth the reigning champion moved into sixth by the end of the lap. 

Allen began to build a lead early on, though the two Giltrap entries of Giltrap and Evans were close behind. 

The top three weren’t the only ones in a battle, with the next four cars also in a fight for position led by McCutcheon. 

At the mid-way point in the race, Allen led from Giltrap and Evans with the battle pack of McCutcheon, Gilchrist, Shepherd, Allan and Murphy behind.

Unable to pull away from the Giltrap Racing cars Allen was forced to defend his lead, letting the battle pack behind the trio close up, creating an eight-car train. 

With four laps remaining Shepherd in sixth began to drop away leaving the top five cars in their own fight. 

Three laps from the end of the race Gilchrist overcooked a dive inside McCutcheon at the hairpin, making contact with McCutcheon and Evans sending the championship leader into a spin. Gilchrist received a penalty for the incident, but Evans was forced into the pits to repair his car. 

Giltrap kept the pressure on Allen, but it was Shepherd that made the most of the incident, catching the back of McCutcheon, passing him to move into third. An important result in the title fight as Evans did return to the race but finished 19th. 

Allen crossed the line ahead of Giltrap and Shepherd. 

“It was a lot more difficult defending in that race than chasing as I was this morning,” Allen said after the race.  

“Marco just had a quicker car and I was forced to focus on making my car as wide as possible. I’ve had an awesome day and I’m rapt for everyone who has supported me.”

Hugo Allan took another fourth-place result, with McCutcheon in fifth. 

Todd Prujean had his best weekend in the championship so far with a sixth-place, one ahead of Christina Orr-West. Dion Pitt brought his Action Motorsports car home in eighth with Clay Osborne and Zac Stichbury completing the top ten.

The drama for Evans means Shepherd will head to the next round as the championship leader, 15 points ahead of Evans. With the round win, Allen closed the points gap to the two leaders. John Penny was the top master for the weekend while Hugo Allan took out the Rookie honours.

2022 TOYOTA 86 CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 4 – PUKEKOHE – RACE 3