Clay Osborne set a blistering pace in qualifying. Picture Bruce Jenkins
A fascinating 20 minute qualifying session saw a change of the order amongst the series pace setters with Ayrton Hodson
turning heads in second place and Rylan Gray and William Exton locking out the second row.
Championship leader Brock Gilchrist had a poor session by his lofty 2023 standards, languishing at the lower end of the
top ten until he delivered his best time on his last flying lap. It was very quick, but only good enough for fifth place
on the grid.
Brock had set the bar initially with his first fast lap of the session but that was obviously going to be under threat
given the pace of his rivals and the fact that the top 12 runners were covered by under a second for most of the
session.
At the halfway mark most were wondering what was going on with Rylan Gray at the top ahead of Clay Osborne, Hodson and
Fynn Osborne all ahead of the championship leader.
With 13 minutes of the session completed Clay was first under the 1 minute 46 barrier to go quickest on 1 minute 45. 971
seconds. And moments later brother Fynn popped up in second place making it the first time that brothers had topped any
timed session – even briefly - in the history of the Toyota 86 category.
It was too good to last however and as the clock ticked down on the session the times began to tumble with Exton,
Christina Orr-West and John Penny all featuring near the top before Gilchrist made his presence felt with third fastest
time.
Clay Osborne however, was not to be denied and left the mark at a blistering 1 minute 44.946 seconds, good enough for
pole position and also good enough to be three tenths of a second up on the chasing pack.
Behind the top five Justin Allen also left his charge late for sixth on the grid, while Penny and Orr-West will make it
an all-Masters fourth row for the first race. Dion Pitt and Tom Bewley complete the top ten for what should be a
fascinating race on Saturday afternoon.
Clay Richards – grandson of Jim Richards and son of Steven Richards- showed well in his first qualifying session at
Taupo and in the Toyota 86 category, taking 12th fastest time in qualifying.2023 Toyota 86 Championship – Round 4 Taupo Motorsport Park - Qualifying1 Clay Osborne2 Ayrton Hodson (R)3 Rylan Gray (R)4 William Exton (R)5 Brock Gilchrist6 Justin Allen7 John Penny (M)8 Christina Orr-West (M)9 Dion Pitt10 Tom Bewley (R)11 Fynn Osborne12 Clay Richards13 Tayler Bryant (R)14 Harry Townshend (R)15 Saxon Sheehan (R)16 Thomas Mallard (R)17 Tim Leach18 William Morton19 Sam Cotterill2023 Toyota 86 Championship – Points after three rounds1 Brock Gilchrist6002 Clay Osborne5353 Justin Allen5114 Dion Pitt4565 Rylan Gray (R)4226 John Penny (M)4097 Tayler Bryant3638 William Exton (R)3359 Tom Bewley (R)33310 Christina Orr-West (M)33111 Fynn Osborne32012 Ayrton Hodson (R)24113 Tim Leach (R)21414 William Morton18815 Saxon Sheehan (R)18016 Harry Townshend (R)16617 Thomas Mallard (R)15218 Hunter Robb (R)14419 Mark Mallard6820 Sam Cotterill542023 Toyota 86 Championship Calendar
Rd1 13-15 January 2023 - Highlands Motorsport Park
Rd2 20-22 January 2023 - Teretonga Park
Rd3 3-5 February 2023 - Hampton Downs Motorsport Park
Rd4 17-19 March 2023 - Taupo International Motorsport Park
Rd5 14-16 April 2023 – Manfeild - Circuit Chris Amon
Rd6 5-7 May 2023 - Hampton Downs Motorsport Park