Simon Evans takes second win, moves into the championship lead

Simon Evans has taken his second race win of the weekend, to leave Highlands Motorsport park as the Toyota 86 championship leader. 

The final race of the weekend ended under safety car after series rookie Sam Cotterill took a sizable hit to the wall with two laps left in the race. 

The safety car would mean Evans took the race win ahead of Rowan Shepherd and Justin Allen who completed the podium in second and third respectively.  

“I had really good drive off the corners and that helped me defend,” Evans said after the race. 

“This is a really positive start to the team’s campaign and it’s great to see Rowan back up front as I really enjoy racing with him. I felt like I was controlling the race well but it’s always tough to win in this championship so I’m very pleased.”

The grid for the final race was set by the points from the first two races, leaving Shepherd to start alongside Evans on the front row. 

Shepard was able to keep the pressure on Evans through the race, though he wasn’t able to pass him to move into the race lead. 

“We were stronger in different areas of the lap and I was trying everything I could but didn’t have quite enough,” Shepard said.

John Penny was under pressure for much of the race from the pack behind, with Justin Allen and Matthew McCutcheon able to get past. 

The last few laps of the race saw Penny in a tight battle for sixth with Zac Stichbury, Clay Osborne, Dion Pitt, Marco Giltrap, Hugo Allan and Ronan Murphy.

The battle was cut short when the safety car was brought out to retrieve Flynn Osborne, who was stuck in the gravel trap. 

When the race got back underway Ronan Murphy who started the race 18th after suffering engine issues in the morning race, made it to 13th by the safety car, continuing to move forward after it ended, getting to 10th by the end of the race. 

The category will be back on track at Mike Pero Motorsport Park, Ruapuna for the second round of the championship next weekend.