Four from THoR for Best Bars Toyota 86 Championship

A huge four car team from racing philanthropists The Heart of Racing will provide opportunity for up and coming young racers to win big in next season’s Best Bars Toyota 86 Championship.

The four car team will be run – like THoR’s successful New Zealand endurance team – by International Motorsport. The cars will be run for the season as part of a new academy programme with three competing in the full season and the fourth as an additional entry for certain events and for testing duties.

The announcement of the new team will mean more drivers have the opportunity to race for a fantastic prize pool on offer from TOYOTA GAZOO Racing New Zealand and the Tony Quinn Foundation. That prize pool includes a test in Toyota’s FT60 TRS racer and a test with Triple Eight Race Engineering in a Supercar.

“As the pieces of the jigsaw fall into place it’s becoming clear that the 2021-2022 Best Bars Toyota 86 Championship is going to be the biggest in our nine year history,” said Category Manager Geoff Short.

Short expects a 22 plus field of cars for the next edition of the championship, which over the past few seasons has produced some memorable title battles and door-to-door racing that has meant it has become New Zealand’s top saloon car championship.

“Having The Heart of Racing so involved in the next championship is going to be great for the category and is an endorsement of how far we have come over the years,” he said.

“We’ve never been busier in the build up to a championship and fingers crossed we can put the challenges of the recent Covid affected seasons far behind us and look forward to some very big fields and some very tight racing, with the most successful drivers securing what are some hugely significant opportunities.”

The Heart of Racing is partnered with the Starship Foundation in support of the Starship Children’s Hospital. They race to spread awareness and raise funds for children’s hospitals across the globe. To date, the programme has raised over nine million dollars to support the demands of quality paediatric care. 

On track they have enjoyed huge success in a short space of time in their Aston Martin Vantage GT3 driven by works racer Alex Riberas and drifter-turned-racer Darren Kelly.