Rowan Shepherd wins third race and the round at Hampton Downs

Reigning champion Rowan Shepherd is fighting back in the championship battle taking his third win of the weekend at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park. 

Shepherd started the race from pole position but wasn’t able to take the lead, instead, it was championship leader Simon Evans that lead the first lap. It wasn’t until six laps into the race that Shepherd was able to successfully make a pass on Evans to take the lead of the race. 

Shepherd’s strong results this weekend has closed the points gap to Evans’ in the championship, wrapping up the round win in the process.  

“It’s a dream weekend for us,” Shepherd said after the race. 

“We had a pretty average start to the championship but we’ve been gathering pace and this will put us right back in contention and that’s awesome.

“The car was faultless and was awesome all weekend so it basically came down to me not to make a mistake. I just worked hard to stay focused and let the car do the work. Anything can happen in this championship so we’ll just keep doing what we are doing and look forward to the next round at Pukekohe Park.”

Less than three laps from the end of the race Evans started dropping back through the order with Dion Pitt and Hugo Allan passing him to move into second and third respectively. 

After the race, Evans reported breaking issues, though he was able to cross the line in fourth despite the issue. 

A number of penalties were handed out after the race with Pitt, Allan, and Evans all receiving two-second penalties, Evans for a jump start, while Pitt and Allan were penalised for contact with each other. 

The penalties saw all three drop behind Justin Allen who was elevated to a second-place result. 

Matthew McCutcheon, Brock Gilchrist, John Penny and Allen battled for much of the race, with Allen leading the pack at the end of the race, which saw him promoted to second after the penalties were applied. 

The series will be back on track for the fourth round of the championship at Pukekohe Park Raceway March 4-6

2022 TOYOTA 86 CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 3 – HAMPTON DOWNS – RACE 4