Taupo - NIFF Round 2

Thank you for opening my newsletter for the second round of the championship - I had a blast this round.

Practice and Qualifying

Dad and I started the weekend hauling the trailer up to Taupo for the test day on Saturday, where we found a good baseline setup and looked to have race-winning pace. Jase then flew straight into Auckland from Sepang and drove right to Taupo to give us a hand for race day.

We went out in qualifying and set down a fast lap in the first five - lucky, because on the sixth we lost an exhaust manifold. Thanks to the team of Dad and Jase, we diagnosed the issue quickly and had the car running with around five minutes to spare before Race 1.

Race 1

I couldn't have been more pumped to get Race 1 underway after our strong qualifying pace. We got on track with minutes to go and lined up P3 on the inside. We were up to 2nd off the line and into the lead by the end of the lap. From there we focused on consistent lap times, and that had us finish P1 with a 2.5 second lead.

Race 2

Going into Race 2, Toby - our main competition - bolted on some new tyres. I didn't know that at the time, but he proved hard to beat. Off the line we dropped to 4th, but found ourselves back up to 3rd by Turn 4. We fought throughout the race with Leo Scott, and crossed the line in 2nd. Race 1, P1; Race 2, P2 - do we see a pattern here?

Race 3

In Race 3 our tyres were in a worse position than our main competition, so we went in aiming to get out front and control the race early. That plan didn't come off - the start was a carbon copy of Race 2, falling to 4th and back to 3rd by Turn 4. Toby and Leo battled hard ahead; as much as I wanted to lead, I also wanted to avoid a crash. The tyre went off near the end, and our effort wasn't quite enough as we came home 3rd. The pattern continued - Race 3, P3.

A big meeting - I couldn't ask for much more, especially given the tyres we were dealing with. Bring on Round 3 at my home track of Manfeild in December.

In the Press & Replays