With qualification now complete, we’ve had our first look at who the form drivers are coming into the GT NZ Championship (GT NZC). And for those familiar with the top level of Gran Turismo in New Zealand, it’s the same names filling the top positions.
GT NZC is a new series born from the ashes of the NZ Esports Racing Series (NZERS), now backed by the NZ Sim Racing Collective as an officially recognised National Championship.
The series will run on Gran Turismo 7 across a 6-week, 12-race season broadcast live on NZ Sim Racing TV. Qualifying took place from June 15th to 22nd to determine the 28 drivers who would race across the top two divisions. Using GT7’s circuit experience mode to ensure a level playing field, each driver had to set their best lap at Tokyo Expressway South Counterclockwise in the Toyota Supra Gr3 car.
At the end of qualifying, it was 2024 NZ Esports Racing Champion Matthew McEwen at the top of the times once again. His closest rivals from 2024, Lewis Atkinson and Ben “SlyBenTheCat” Groves, also made it through to the top division.
Returning to competition in 2026 is past GT World Series competitor Tom “Atom” England, joined in the top division by past GT World Series event winner Simon “Sidawg” Bishop, to make it 3 World Series-level drivers facing off in the NZ Championship (McEwen being the third). An absolutely stacked grid that sets the stage for a very competitive season to come.
Division 1 Qualified Drivers:
With no NZ national-level Gran Turismo competition in 2025, there were questions about whether the top drivers would have dropped off. McEwen has answered those questions emphatically.
Not only has he finished best in NZ, but he has also managed to claim 4th on the worldwide leaderboards. McEwen has competed in seven GT World Series events, won the NZ Esports Racing Championship in 2023 and 2024, has taken his skills over to ACC to win the NZ Esports competition, and remains the undisputed #1 Gran Turismo driver in NZ. Will anyone be able to knock him off his perch this season?
McEwen’s closest competitor through the qualifying stage was Gareth “Divecable” Collier. Gareth set a time fast enough for 7th on the world leaderboard, just 0.189 seconds behind McEwen.
Gareth’s story is a case of practice paying off. Since finishing 8th in ’23, he’s been on an upward trajectory, qualifying 5th in ’24 and finishing the online season 4th. Since then, he’s continued to chip away at improving his race skills in Gran Turismo, qualifying 2nd and coming into the season as one of the top picks.
Tom “Atom” England returned to the track in 2026 with a 4th-place qualifying finish. Tom has represented New Zealand at two GT World Series events alongside McEwen and Bishop. In 2023, Tom created the NZERS and was responsible for running in both ’23 and ’24 before parenting responsibilities led him to hand the reins over to current series host Nathan Howe of Hooncorp Esports.
Simon “Sidawg” Bishop, aka Swanky Dank, aka the NZ Gran Turismo God, is an OG of Gran Turismo; he’s been at the top of the NZ scene since online racing first started. Having competed at an incredible 10 Gran Turismo World Series events Simon is the only kiwi to have a world series win to his name, having famously held off an attack through the final corners of the Nordschleife to win the Manufacturers Cup for Toyota in 2019.
For GT NZC, he’s only qualified in 6th, but don’t count that against him; he might just be the driver to do the fewest laps during the qualifying phase. Simon missed three races and still finished the NZERS ’23 season in the top ten. In ’24, he was 2nd in the online season, and it would not be a surprise if he was fighting for podiums again this year.
Qualifying wasn’t looking good early on for 2024 runner-up Lewis Atkinson. After a slow start and being at risk of not making it into Division 1, Lewis reported being a bit rusty, having not competed on Gran Turismo for quite some time. Come the final day of qualifying, he would step up and show his class, putting in hours of focused race time to move himself up to 8th in the end.
A similar slow start from Ben “SlyBenTheCat” Groves saw him miss qualifying entirely for the first few days, but he showed pace in the final hours to finish 11th.
Not quite the 2nd and 3rd results we saw in ’24 from these two, but with no points awarded in qualifying, the goal of making it into the top 14 has been achieved. These are two drivers who can race at the front when they put in the work and have proven they can produce a consistent season, so certainly don’t count them out.
Almost the entire Division 1 grid is returning drivers from past seasons. All except one: Phillip “Madsda” Smith. Not intimidated by the big names he was up against, Phillip did enough to qualify in 5th. Demonstrating he has a pace that’s worth watching.
One past Div 2 driver has improved enough to earn the step up to Div 1 for 2026: Amit “soupra777” Biswas. They were a frequent race winner in Division 2, earning 14th overall in the NZERS 2024 championship, and will no doubt be looking to continue the upward trend as they race against the very best this season.
There was only one big upset in the qualifying phase: Ben “Crimson” Macdonald missed out on making the top division, though he received a late lifeline when Ryan “agreengoldfish” Goldsworthy withdrew from division 1, citing work commitments. Ben has been a regular in the top flight of NZ Gran Turismo, finishing 6th in ’23 and 7th in ’24 at the respective live finals. Qualifying 15th Crimson missed out by just 0.018, showing how tight the competition is in NZ.
Notably missing from the entry list this year were Caleb Birtles and Jake “ApexHumper”. Caleb is one of only a few drivers to have taken a championship race win over McEwen in the past, but unfortunately, he is not able to attend the Monday night race times. No word from Jake, who would have been 3rd in ’23 had he not missed the final two races, but also didn’t compete in ’24.
The focus now shifts to the season ahead. Racing commences Monday, July 13th, and continues weekly through to August 17th. With two races a week, it’s a busy schedule that will see drivers tackle 12 different Toyota and Lexus cars across 12 different tracks.
Watch all the action live on the NZ Sim Racing TV YouTube from 7pm on Mondays.
Header Image: Supplied
