Robotham pips Stewart for pole position
Jaylyn Robotham fired a shot to the Kiwis at Teretonga today with a sensational pole position lap in the Best Bars Toyota 86 Championship.
Backing up his Friday practice form, Aussie young gun Robotham was the man to beat throughout the 20 minute practice session in his Eastern Performance Centre backed car, which started on a drying track and finished in bright sunshine.
Top Kiwi - another backing up his testing form - was M2 Competition's Campbell Stewart, who put in his best performance to date in the Toyota 86 category to line up alongside Robotham on the front row for Saturday's first race. His time was just under three hundredths slower than the pole position time, and sets him up for a string race.
Robotham was first to go quickly in the session, with Highlands round winner Peter Vodanovich, Connor Adam and Stewart all in the mix in the early stages. Championship leader Jaden Ransley initially sat outside of the top ten but four minutes into the session put his marker down to jump to second behind Robotham.
As the track continued to dry, the times tumbled and more drivers came into the mix. Robotham was the first to go under the 1 minute 10 second mark around the 2.57km Teretonga track, and was followed by Stewart and Vodanovich. Adam also came on string in the second half of the session to clock a time good enough to get him into the top five.
Stewart got closer to the pole position with his next big effort and that would remain his best lap of the session.
At the close it was Robotham on pole position, with Stewart alongside him. Vodanovich and Ransley start third and fourth for NEXEN DTM and Miles Toyota respectively with Adam in fifth. Ryan Wood popped up late in the session to grab sixth, continuing on his strong learning curve in the CareVets Scholarship car while another Australian, Richard Peasey ended a strong session with seventh overall.
Brock Gilchrist - who took a podium result at Teretonga last season, team mate Justin Allen and Brayden Phillips rounded out the top ten with the whole group covered by just over seven tenths of a second.
Best Bars Toyota 86 Championship – Round 3 – Teretonga - Qualifying
1 Jaylyn Robotham, Jay Robotham Racing
2 Campbell Stewart, M2 Competition
3 Peter Vodanovich, Peter Vodanovich Motorsport
4 Jaden Ransley, Neale Motorsport
5 Connor Adam, International Motorsport
6 Ryan Wood, Ryan Wood Motorsports/CareVets
7 Richard Peasey, Toyota GAZOO Racing New Zealand
8 Brock Gilchrist, International Motorsport
9 Justin Allen, Allen Racing Team/IMS
10 Brayden Phillips, Phillips Motorsport
11 James Wilkins, Kaizen Racing
12 Leo Bult, Darkhorse Racing
13 Todd Foster, International Motorsport
14 Andrew Jackson, Darkhorse Racing
15 Tayler Bryant, CareVets Scholarship
