Bridgestone GR86 Championship Debut Round 5 Manfeild

Round 5 at Manfeild marked our debut in the Bridgestone GR86 Championship and it’s something we’ve been working towards for a long time.

Walking into the Mackenzie Motorsport garage and seeing the black and gold GR86 sitting alongside the rest of the Mackenzie GRs was a pretty special moment for us as a team. That’s when it really sinks in. We’re here, lining up in the championship properly. The car looked unreal. Huge thanks to J.A. Russell Ltd, Marley and Ambius for backing the programme. The livery, inspired by Angus Fogg’s iconic J.A. Russell Mustang, represents the partners behind us and the direction we’re heading.

Going into the weekend we knew it would be a step up. It had been a while since we’d been consistently back in the GR86 and we were also running a new spec gearbox, so the early sessions were about getting comfortable again and adjusting to the changes.

By qualifying things started to come together. We managed to put a solid lap down and secured P12 on the grid out of 14 cars. In a field this tight every tenth counts, so it was a good starting point considering the limited time to fine tune everything.

The racing was intense. The GR86 Championship is seriously competitive and there’s no room for error. Each race we felt more in sync with the car. Braking improved, confidence built and the overall rhythm strengthened as the weekend went on. There’s still plenty to learn, but we could feel the progress each time we rolled back into the garage.

A massive thank you to Sam, Tom and Cory, and all the boys at Mackenzie Motorsport. The support and guidance across the weekend made a real difference. Stepping into this level of racing is a team effort and we’re grateful to have that experience around us.

Thanks as well to the other drivers for the hard but fair racing. It pushes everyone to lift.

Thanks to TOYOTA, Next Gen and everyone involved.

Round 5 at Manfeild was just the start. Next up is Round 6 at Taupō and we’re looking forward to building on what we’ve learned and continuing to move forward together.