White makes it five winners from six races with feature win

A gripping race for the podium places and top ten results was not of interest to Chris White as he put a weekend illness aside to race home to his first win of the season in the Bridgestone GR86 Championship.

The Neale Motorsport driver led from lights to flag at Hampton Downs and won by a relatively comfortable two seconds as the racing behind him produced some thrilling moments.

White took pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session and got away well to lead Arthur Broughan and Josh Bethune through the first sequence of turns as the 12-lap feature race got underway. Zach Blincoe was on the pace quickly, too, pushing Bethune and Broughan ahead into early defensive moves.

As they crossed the line for the first time, it was White with a few car lengths over Broughan, who had Bethune, Blincoe, Harry Townshend, Hugo Allan, Ajay Giddy, a fast-starting Cooper Barnes, Lee Zeltwanger, and Mac Templeton in close proximity behind.

Giddy pulled a nice move on Allan around the downhill hairpin on lap two, as Barnes also fancied his chances against the reigning champion as the two rubbed a few corners later.

White meanwhile had built up a one and a half second lead over the charging pack as they started lap four – a decent margin early in the race.

Broughan had not been able to follow him, and as the race progressed, a big traffic jam was building up behind him that went all the way back to Barnes in eighth, before another battle pack led by Templeton and Zeltwanger, that included Simon Hunter, Justin Allen, Thomas Mallard, and Cormac Murphy.

Bethune launched wave after wave of attacks on Broughan as White continued to streak away out front, and by the halfway mark, the two main battle packs had more or less linked up to form a 12-car train behind Broughan.

It couldn’t last, and Bethune’s efforts took a step backwards when Blincoe caught him napping as he tried to pass Broughan on lap 8, Zach slipping down the inside to take third.

Townshend too fancied a piece of the action but settled in under Bethune’s rear fender instead. All of that gave Broughan a little more breathing space and forced Blincoe to defend from a fired-up Bethune.

At the start of lap 10, Blincoe seemed to have made a small mistake at the final turn, and that gave Bethune just enough momentum to retake third, and once again, Townshend was also there ready to pounce if either made a mistake. Behind them, Giddy was now leading the main group of midfield runners, but despite the close attentions of Hugo Allan, he did appear to have everything under control.

White, though, was home and dry and cruised through the last few laps to take his first win of the season and make it five winners from the first six races in the Bridgestone GR86 Championship. After a tough weekend where he had felt under the weather, the relief was obvious.

“I feel a bit crook to be honest,” he said.

“The lead gave me a bit of a breather, and I focused on not making any mistakes. I am just glad I was able to hang on for the win.”

Broughan survived to finish second, while Bethune brought his car home third. Townshend found a way by Blincoe for fourth late on, leaving Zach to come home fifth, before a gap to Giddy in sixth, Allan in seventh, Barnes in eighth, Templeton in ninth, and Zeltwanger in tenth.

With two rounds completed, the championship lead now sits with Chris White, with Zach Blincoe and Josh Bethune in second and third. There’s a short break now before the teams head to Teretonga Park in the South Island for Round 3 on January 23rd.

2025-2026 Bridgestone GR86 Championship – Round 2 Hampton Downs Race 3

Header Image: Joel Hanks