Zach Blincoe – who showed tremendous pace on occasion during his first season in the Bridgestone Toyota GR86 Championship – is returning for a second season and is another rising young star aiming to mount a title challenge.
Bucklands Beach racer Blincoe – 19 – was a star performer in the packed and highly competitive field last season, regularly being one of the pacesetters and indeed, on occasion, being the overall pacesetter.
A race win, however, eluded the youngster, and in his second season, he says he is determined to put that right.
“My racing goals this season are to win the championship and get my first race and round win overall,” he explained.
“It was a bit frustrating last season to just miss out on a race win after having multiple opportunities slip away from us due to driver and car errors.
“However, now I have a lot more experience coming into this season, I think a race win is definitely on the cards. Overall, though, I am hoping for more – I have a goal to win the championship as well as getting my first race and round win.”
Zach puts a lot of the season one disappointments down to that lack of experience and knows that it is one thing to have the speed to win, but another to have the consistency to succeed in New Zealand’s most competitive one-make one model championship.
“The first season gave me a great idea of what is needed in order to come out on top, and that consistency is definitely key,” he added.
“I learned last season that when everything does not go as planned while racing that I must calm down and keep my head in the game and not get too flustered. This will be important to succeed this season, I’m in no doubt about that.”
Blincoe will be back with Mackenzie Motorsport for his second season. The six-round Bridgestone Toyota GR86 Championship commences at the end of October, with the first round taking place at Hampton Downs on the international layout. A break until the 9th–11th January is followed by a return to the North Waikato circuit, again on the long track.
The championship heads south two weeks later for the double header at Teretonga, 23-25 January, and the NZ Grand Prix meeting at Highlands the following weekend. At the end of February, the penultimate round takes place at Manfeild – Circuit Chris Amon before the big finale at the Taupo Supercars round in April.
Header Image: Bruce Jenkins
