Barnes eighth winner in dramatic second race at Teretonga

Australian Cooper Barnes made it eight from eight when he became the latest winner after a dramatic second race at Teretonga Park in the third round of the Bridgestone GR86 Championship.

A late restart failed to phase the rising star as he held off a fierce challenge from Caleb Byers to take the win. Byers took second, Josh Bethune a fighting third and Hayden Bakkerus took the championship lead after a drive through the field to fourth at the flag.

“The car was excellent and I was very aware of Caleb’s speed, particularly through turn one where he was very fast,” said Barnes. “I had to work hard for it but it’s great to take that first win.”

With the grid a reverse of the top ten finishers from Saturday’s first race, Byers made a great start from pole position while second on the grid Harry Townshend was slow away and was swamped by three or four cars.

Justin Allen – a podium finisher on Saturday - went wide and off the track on turn one emerging back on track with some frontal damage on his GR86. At that stage of the race he was well down the order with plenty of work to do. Another to make a good start was Chris White – the Saturday winner moving from tenth on the grid to an impressive fifth at the end of the first lap. At the end of that busy first lap it was Byers from Barnes, Cormac Murphy, Josh Bethune, White, Cameron Hill, Hayden Lines, Zach Blincoe, Townshend and Lachlan Evennett. A lap later White had fought his way up to fourth and latched on to the leading three.

At the front Byers slowed momentarily allowing first Barnes through into the lead and then Murphy through to second place. He quickly recovered his composure though and within a lap was right back on Murphy’s tail while Bethune was keeping a close watch in fourth. Further back a charging Bakkerus and a recovering Townshend were going well and were up to sixth and seventh while championship leader Hugo Allan was only a little further back in 13^th.

By lap six Barnes had built a narrow cushion over Murphy of just under a second. Cormac meanwhile was enjoying a fine battle with Byers, Bethune and Hill as he fought hard to retain second place. This though, was allowing Barnes to get away and that one second lead quickly grew to almost two seconds.

At the front Byers had moved to second leaving Bethune and Murphy in a tight battle – and it ended up badly for Murphy as he lost control and ran off track. Worse was to come on the same lap when Hill and White made contact on the exit of turn one sending Hill hard into the barriers and bringing out the red flag.

The race got back underway on lap 12 and it was Barnes at the front who made the best getaway, quickly building a lead of a few car lengths ahead of Byers. A great run around turn one on lap 14 set Byers up for a big attack on the leader but Barnes kept his nerve – and the inside line – and Byers could not find a way past.  Bethune meanwhile was falling away in third and had Bakkerus, a flying Townshend, White and Dion Pitt hot on his heels.

After a breathless last two laps it was Barnes, from Byers, from Bethune, Bakkerus, series returnee Dion Pitt, White, Jett Murray, Townshend – who dropped from fifth after late contact – Allen and Emerson Vincent.  In the championship points Bakkerus completed the race with a one point lead over Allan, with Bethune in third and Allen in fourth.

2024-2025 Bridgestone GR86 Championship – Round 3 Teretonga – Race 2 Result