Founder of National Racing Group Promotions, Tony Quinn, has revealed his ambitions for the NextGen New Zealand Championship.
Speaking on Australian publication Speedcafe’s Summer Grill podcast, Quinn discussed his admiration for the Kiwi motorsport scene and how important it is to have top-level racing on these shores.
“We all know that New Zealand has a massive depth of talent when it comes to driving cars quickly, whether it’s on gravel or on tarmac,” he told hosts Andrew Van Leeuwen and Simon Chapman.
“I’m heavily invested in the sport over here. I do own three tracks here, and I’d have to say three of the best tracks here; however, the promoters have come and gone with what used to be called the summer series. So we’ve taken it on this year because, basically, it’s half broken, and we want to fix it.”
With National Racing Group Promotions taking over the role of promoters in July, the team had just four months to put together a series, which began with the season opener at Taupo International Motorsport Park, one of Quinn’s tracks, in late November.
Featured categories included GTRNZ, the Pirelli Porsche Race Series, Super V8s, the Mazda Racing Series, the Summerset GT New Zealand Championship, and the first-ever round of the new generation Toyota GR86 Championship.
Round 2, the Sixt Rent a Car Historic GP next weekend, promises to be even bigger, featuring star drivers, the ‘greatest-ever gathering of Formula Atlantics’, a Ford showcase, several classes of historic machinery, and Round 1 of the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship (CTFROC).
Those who will be competing include Supercars champion Will Brown in CTFROC and Supercars icons Greg Murphy and Steven Richards in the Formula Atlantic field.
Roberto Moreno, Brendon Hartley, Craig Baird, David Brabham, Russell Ingall, Paul Radisich, and Liam Lawson are other stars who will also make appearances at the event.
Five further rounds of the NextGen NZ Championship will follow, and Quinn admits he is determined to build a series that works for the competitors and the fans.
“At the end of this year, once we’ve done all the things we’ve said we’re going to do, we’ll have a big talk with the sport and the competitors in New Zealand and expose almost an open book policy so that they can see how the system works,” he explained.
“The last guy that tried to promote it went under for about half a million bucks. Nobody wants to do that, nobody needs to do that, nobody should do that. It’s important that we all make it happen this year, and at the end of it, we can all share our views and have a plan going forward for the 2026 season.”
While acknowledging the challenges, Quinn sees promise in several racing categories that could form the foundation of a rejuvenated championship.
“Toyota 86s have been here for a while, and they look like they’re going to have a strong year this year,” he said. “I’d like to see a closer alignment with the Australian 86 series. I think we can somehow align our talents there. The TA2s are bubbling away. Porsche is making a little bit of a comeback. It’s got a great future; we just have to dial it in.
“It’s like a radio station; you just have to dial it to the right frequency and make it happen.”
He also went on to highlight the critical role that Toyota has played in keeping the sport alive during turbulent times.
“As you said, it’s been half-broken for two decades, and if it wasn’t for Toyota, it would be basically club racing. Toyota are such a strong supporter of motorsport in New Zealand, and I promise that season 2026… we’re going to fix it.”
