Local Timaru driver Corban Sprague has taken the opportunity to stamp his mark on the 2024/25 Mazda Pro8 New Zealand series winning two of the four races held at the Timaru International Raceway over the weekend and now moves up into third overall on the points table.
While Jared Parker continues to lead the series from Invercargill’s Bradley Dawson, Sprague is quickly eating into their lead after also winning the previous round in Invercargill before Christmas.
The series produced some great racing in changeable conditions as part of the Trust Aoraki Thunder Down Under Super Truck event.
“Really happy with that,” commented Sprague. “Definitely home advantage helped as I was able to know what the track would do particularly in the conditions with a damp track.
“Today (Sunday) was good for our championship points haul after a poor start. Reliability is much better; it’s all coming together, as Dad’s done a lot with going through the car and getting the setup right.”
First blood went to Ben McConochie in the opening Race on Saturday morning, beating home Australian Ric Shaw with Dawson third ahead of Srague and Pyke.
“Had a good start to the weekend,” said McConochie. “We went on wets when others went on slicks, and it worked in my favour. A pretty good weekend.”
Sprague then went on to win the second race from a grid set from a marble-draw. Pyke and Dawson continued to collect points finishing second and third with Race 1 winner McConochie fourth ahead of Hamish Evans and Flyn Mitchell.
Two Australian drivers were on the grid over the weekend as part of the Trans-Tasman partnership between Mazda Pro8 New Zealand and Australia’s RX8 Cup. The round hosted the winner of the 2024 RX8 Cup Australia series, Rob Scott who joined the grid in a local car. He quickly showed why he is the Australian champion winning the third race (Reverse marble-draw grid) on Sunday morning from Mitchell, Sam Knight and fellow Aussie Ric Shaw.
“Very happy with the win,” commented Scott. “I got better and better all the time as I got used to the car. The biggest difference that I found is the ABS which we have in Australia. You can jump on the pedal, and it doesn’t lock up whereas the Kiwi cars do so it took some time to get used to that. I have never driven on slicks before, and they went really well. It’s a great series, great people and I have had an awesome time.”
Also, in the field was fellow Australian and RX8 Cup Series Founder Ric Shaw, making this third trip to NZ having already competed twice in the Pro8 Series over the last couple of years.
“We’ve had an absolutely sensational weekend,” commented Shaw. “We have been welcomed so well by the New Zealanders here in Pro8. I couldn’t say thank them enough. The car and the racing have been great.
“Switching from slick to wets has kept me on my toes. We made the wrong decision in the last race, going with wets, and it was like driving on flat tyres, but a lot of fun. I can’t wait to come back and I want to bring more guys over from Sydney to come and have some fun and likewise, get more of the boys from here over to our series in Australia.”
In the final 8-lap race, with the grid determined by points scored in the preceding three races, it was Sprague who got away from pole and never looked back winning from Bradley Dawson in second followed by Jeremy Dawson, Robert Scott and Ben McConochie.
“It started raining just before the race, so it was a difficult decision to either go with wets or drys (tyres),” said Sprague. “We decided on dry, and it all worked out.”
The series takes a short break and returns for the penultimate round at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell 1 March before the final round in Christchurch 22-23 March 2025.
Header Image: Enuff Photography & SoutherNZone Photography
