Queenstown’s Saxon Sheehan will start a second season in the Toyota 86 Championship and, after a tough rookie year, is aiming to make the top eight overall in 2023-2024.
A year 13 student at Wakatipu High School, Saxon has kept his eye firmly in with plenty of track time competing in the three-round South Island Endurance Series in recent months and has been out testing at Hampton Downs as well.
Sheehan’s focus over the six-round championship will be to step up in terms of results and performance.
“Season two for me is going to be all about improvement,” he said. “With seven more cars on the grid and how close everyone generally is on times in this category it’s going to be interesting to see how the field plays out but for me I’m focusing on being much higher up now that my rookie season is out of the way.”
Whilst he learned a great deal about on track performance in last season’s campaign Sheehan is keen to point out that he’s also learned a lot about the extensive off-track effort required to put a motorsport season together.
“It’s probably fair to say the biggest thing I learned about last season was how to finance and run a motorsport season. Gaining and keeping sponsors, meeting their expectations, and giving them value for money on the investment they have put in me have all been critical things I have learned.
That hard work has paid off and this season Saxon will run with James Marshall Motorsport with full backing as part of the Dayle ITM Racing stable and is very happy, he’s in the right place at this stage of his motorsport career.
“I love one-make motor racing and with my aim of becoming a professional endurance racing driver I want to be in the series which is the most competitive and the most professional. I can get great exposure in this championship and learn the most on track too. No series gives me this level of competition and bang for buck.”
It all begins for Saxon and 24 other racers in the biggest ever Toyota 86 Championship later this month at the Taupo International Motorsport Park before an early summer holiday ahead of the second round at Manfeild – Circuit Chris Amon in January. The championship then heads to the South Island for two rounds there, including the 68th New Zealand Grand Prix. The final two rounds will be in the North Island.
2023/24 Toyota 86 Schedule
| Rd 1 | November 17-19 | Taupo |
| Rd2 | January 26-28 | Manfeild |
| Rd 3 | February 9-11 | Ruapuna |
| Rd 4 | February 16-18 | Highlands |
| Rd 5 | March 15-17 | Hampton Downs |
| Rd 6 | April | TBC |
Words & Images: Supplied
