Heart of Racing rising star Hugo Allan continued his rich vein of form with pole position at Hampton Downs at the final
round of the 2022 Toyota 86 Championship.
The championship's up and coming stars maintained their pace from the previous round at Taupo with Allan, Ronan Murphy
and Marco Giltrap all starring in the session and making up the top three qualifiers.
Allan had bided his time in the 20 minute session before clocking his 1 minute 16.684 second pole position lap.
Up until those closing moments the session had been dominated by Ronan Murphy, who produced a superb middle sector on
his best lap before making full use of a handy tow to the finish line from team mate John Penny. That put Murphy two
tenths clear, but Allan was far from done and put everything together when it mattered most.
"In the first part of qualifying the car wasn't perfect but I came in and we did a bit of a tune up and then headed out
again," he said afterwards. "I think it was a bit of the car and a bit of me in that best lap, but it's great that the
three of us are up the front again and I can't wait to go racing."
Remarkably, the top 16 cars in the 21 car field were covered by less than a second. The two championship protagonists,
Rowan Shepherd and Simon Evans, could only manage fifth and sixth fastest respectively and will share the third row of
the grid for Saturday's opening race of the final weekend.
Behind Allan, Murphy and Giltrap, Brock Gilchrist maintained his late season charge to lock out the final spot on the
second row in fourth. With Shepherd and Evans on the third row, it was Zac Stichbury and Dion Pitt who claimed seventh
and eighth on the grid with top Masters class racer Penny and rookie Matthew McCutcheon rounding out a hugely
competitive top ten.
Championship challenger Justin Allen will line up 11th on the grid with plenty of work to do when the race gets underway
later today.2022 Toyota 86 Championship – Round 6 Hampton Downs Motorsport Park – QualifyingPos#NAMETEAM123Hugo ALLANThe Heart of Racing01:16.684291Ronan MURPHYAction Motorsport01:16.859384Marco GILTRAPGiltrap Group Motorsport01:16.907410Brock GILCHRISTCareVets Racing01:16.94651Rowan SHEPHERDAction Motorsport01:17.02464Simon EVANSGiltrap Group Motorsport01:17.074772Zac STICHBURYMackenzie Motorsport01:17.07485Dion PITTAction Motorsport01:17.092922John PENNYAction Motorsport01:17.1701096Matthew MCCUTCHEONAction Motorsport01:17.2301199Justin ALLENInternational Motorsport01:17.2441214Fynn OSBORNEJames Marshall Motorsport01:17.2741355Christina ORR WESTDayle ITM01:17.2781474Todd PRUJEANTodd Prujean Motorsport01:17.3561525Chelsea HERBERTThe Heart of Racing01:17.3591652Rianna O'MEARA-HUNTThe Heart of Racing01:17.68217222Todd FOSTERInternational Motorsport01:17.759188Mark MALLARDMark Mallard Racing01:17.8311915Clay OSBORNEJames Marshall Motorsport01:17.8622011Will MORTONiMac Race Engineering01:17.873219Sam COTTERILLInternational Motorsport01:18.292