Zac Stichbury hit form at Taupo with a blistering pole position lap. Picture Bruce Jenkins.
The 20 year old Hawkes Bay driver backed up excellent Friday practice form to deliver a fast lap when it mattered in the
Armstrongs supported Mackenzie Motorsport car, claiming the Castrol Pole Position Trophy with a 1 minute 44.486 lap in
perfect conditions at the fifth round of the Toyota 86 Championship.
That put him just over two tenths ahead of a fired up Brock Gilchrist in the CareVets Scholarship car, and he was
delighted with his debut pole position.
“I rolled out and even on the grid it’s the best I ever felt and I felt calm and had energy and was just excited to get
out there and see what we could do on the new tyres,” he said afterwards.
“The car hasn’t really changed and the team have given me a good car all season, I just had to put my head down after
Pukekohe and if I wanted it, which I do, I had to go out and do it. I’ve put in the work and it has paid off.”
Championship leader Rowan Shepherd was third for Action Motorsport, but arch rivals Simon Evans and Justin Allen could
only manage sixth and ninth places respectively on the grid for Saturday afternoon’s race.
Ronan Murphy put in a solid performance to take fourth position and a place on the second row of the grid while Hugo
Allan will join Evans on the third row of the grid with fifth fastest time.
Behind sixth place Evans, Dion Pitt will start seventh, Marco Giltrap eighth, then Allen in ninth and an ever-improving
Todd Prujean in tenth.
Further back Chelsea Herbert put in her best qualifying performance of the season so far to take 12th and a place on the
sixth row while the other two ladies in the field, Christina Orr-West and Rianna O’Meara Hunt will line up in 15th and
17th positions on the grid respectively. Eddie Iraia – debuting in place of Mark Mallard, lined s up in 20th place on
the grid.
The first race of the weekend over eight laps gets underway at 3.05pm.2022 TOYOTA 86 CHAMPIONSHIP – R5 TAUPO INTERNATIONAL MOTORSPORT PARK - QUALIFYINGPos#NAMETEAM172Zac STICHBURYMackenzie Motorsport01:44.5210Brock GILCHRISTCareVets Racing01:44.731Rowan SHEPHERDAction Motorsport01:44.7491Ronan MURPHYAction Motorsport01:44.7523Hugo ALLANThe Heart of Racing01:44.864Simon EVANSGiltrap Group Motorsport01:44.975Dion PITTAction Motorsport01:45.1884Marco GILTRAPGiltrap Group Motorsport01:45.1999Justin ALLENInternational Motorsport01:45.11074Todd PRUJEANTodd Prujean Motorsport01:45.41196Matthew MCCUTCHEONAction Motorsport01:45.41225Chelsea HERBERTThe Heart of Racing01:45.41322John PENNYAction Motorsport01:45.41415Clay OSBORNEJames Marshall Motorsport01:45.81555Christina ORR WESTDayle ITM01:45.81614Fynn OSBORNEJames Marshall Motorsport01:45.81752Rianna O'MEARA-HUNTThe Heart of Racing01:45.818222Todd FOSTERInternational Motorsport01:45.91911Will MORTONiMac Race Engineering01:46.7208Eddie IRAIAMallard Racing/24 Red Racing01:47.2219Sam COTTERILLInternational Motorsport01:47.4