Rookie Stichbury takes debut pole position

Zac Stichbury hit form at Taupo with a blistering pole position lap. Picture Bruce Jenkins.

Zac Stichbury turned the championship form book on its head with a stunning pole position lap at the Taupo Motorsport Park on Saturday morning – the first for a rookie this season.

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,” says Zac.

'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.

2022 TOYOTA 86 CHAMPIONSHIP – R5 TAUPO INTERNATIONAL MOTORSPORT PARK - QUALIFYING

Pos

#

NAME

TEAM

1

72

Zac STICHBURY

Mackenzie Motorsport

01:44.5

2

10

Brock GILCHRIST

CareVets Racing

01:44.7

3

1

Rowan SHEPHERD

Action Motorsport

01:44.7

4

91

Ronan MURPHY

Action Motorsport

01:44.7

5

23

Hugo ALLAN

The Heart of Racing

01:44.8

6

4

Simon EVANS

Giltrap Group Motorsport

01:44.9

7

5

Dion PITT

Action Motorsport

01:45.1

8

84

Marco GILTRAP

Giltrap Group Motorsport

01:45.1

9

99

Justin ALLEN

International Motorsport

01:45.1

10

74

Todd PRUJEAN

Todd Prujean Motorsport

01:45.4

11

96

Matthew MCCUTCHEON

Action Motorsport

01:45.4

12

25

Chelsea HERBERT

The Heart of Racing

01:45.4

13

22

John PENNY

Action Motorsport

01:45.4

14

15

Clay OSBORNE

James Marshall Motorsport

01:45.8

15

55

Christina ORR WEST

Dayle ITM

01:45.8

16

14

Fynn OSBORNE

James Marshall Motorsport

01:45.8

17

52

Rianna O'MEARA-HUNT

The Heart of Racing

01:45.8

18

222

Todd FOSTER

International Motorsport

01:45.9

19

11

Will MORTON

iMac Race Engineering

01:46.7

20

8

Eddie IRAIA

Mallard Racing/24 Red Racing

01:47.2

21

9

Sam COTTERILL

International Motorsport

01:47.4

For more information, go to http://www.toyota.co.nz/racing and http://www.toyotagazooracing.co.nz

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