Lee Zeltwanger converted pole position to a debut win in the first-ever Toyota 86 Trophy Series race, coming home race victor after on-the-road winner Harry Townshend was penalised for a jump start.
Winter series class racer Townshend was simply too eager to get away from the lights quickly and picked up a five-second penalty.
Lee tucked in behind, and for two laps, the two enjoyed an entertaining battle for the lead, but the damage to Townshend’s race was done.
Harry didn’t have the speed to build a five-second margin on Zeltwanger, and after a couple of attempts to pass the Toyota GR86 Championship racer, Lee contented himself sitting in close proximity to the leader and counted down the eight laps to the flag.
After taking pole position in the morning, he was delighted to secure an impressive first win.
“I knew early on that Harry had picked up a penalty,” he said.
“But I like to try and win on the road, so I had a couple of goes at passing him, but the win was more important in the end, so I was happy to tuck in behind and stay nice and close.”
Behind the two leaders, Corbyn Sprague improved further on his qualifying performance and went one better to beat Ajay Giddy to the flag.
That third became second in the final results with Townshend’s penalty, and those five seconds were also enough to promote Giddy to the final place on the podium and the Winter Series class win.
Sprague was satisfied with the result after having only limited running in the CareVets TR86.
“I genuinely haven’t had a lot of time in the car, and I am still very much learning it and building a relationship with the team.
“We are getting faster every time we go out on the track, so I am pretty happy with second, and we know there is much more to come.”
Townshend’s penalty dropped him to an eventual fourth. Fifth should have been Matt Day in the Dayle ITM TR86, but he was another to jump the gun at the start and also copped a five-second penalty.
That put Noel Simpson fifth overall, ahead of Toby Elmiger after a fine battle in the midfield, with Nathan Grammer seventh, Kyan Davie eighth, Day ninth and Conley Webley rounding out the top ten.
| Grid | Car # | Driver name | Trophy / Winter | Team |
| 1 | 22 | Lee Zeltwanger | Trophy | Lee Zeltwanger |
| 2 | 84 | Corban Sprague | Trophy | iMac Engineering |
| 3 | 10 | Ajay Giddy | Winter | Mackenzie Motorsport |
| 4 | 73 | Harry Townshend | Winter | Mackenzie Motorsport |
| 5 | 88 | Noel Simpson | Trophy | Action Motorsport |
| 6 | 74 | Toby Elmiger | Trophy | Action Motorsport |
| 7 | 50 | Nathan Grammer | Trophy | Mackenzie Motorsport |
| 8 | 19 | Kyan Davie | Trophy | Mackenzie Motorsport |
| 9 | 100 | Matt Day | Trophy | Dayle ITM Racing |
| 10 | 18 | Conley Webley | Trophy | Action Motorsport |
2025 Toyota 86 Trophy Series:
- Round 1: 9-10 May 2025 – Hampton Downs – NZIGP Finale
- Round 2: 21-22 June 2025 – Taupo Int. Motorsport Park – Taupo Winter Series
- Round 3: 5-6 July 2025 – Manfeild – Circuit Chris Amon – Manfeild Winter Series
- Round 4: 26-27 July 2025 – Taupo Int. Motorsport Park – Taupo Winter Series
Header Image: Bruce Jenkins
