Wood tops timesheets in first practice, Gilchrist impresses

27 March 2021 / Events

Ryan Wood topped the timesheets in the first official practice session for the penultimate round of the Best Bars Toyota 86 Championship this morning at Pukekohe Park, with Brock Gilchrist also showing he intends to be a force over the weekend with second fastest time.

Pukekohe specialist Alexandra Whitley set the early pace in her Tony Richards TR86 with Gilchrist just a few tenths in arrears in his CareVets machine. Gilchrist then went quickest before Ronan Murphy went to the top of the timesheets with a lap in the 1 minute 17 second bracket.

Five minutes in and championship leader Rowan Shepherd went fastest briefly before Gilchrist and Simon Evans beat his time. Christina Orr West was another going well in the session consistently clocking top five lap times for Dayle ITM Racing.

It was half way through the session before the third championship contender Ryan Wood clocked a fast time, but he, Shepherd and Evans were all within a tenth of a second or so of each other as they chased Gilchrist's low 1.17.2 lap. Wood came good a few minutes later with a 1.17.1 to go fastest and that would remain the top time of the session.

Gilchrist was just nine one hundredths of a second down in second with Evans a fraction behind and Shepherd a tenth further back. Rookie Marco Giltrap clocked the fifth fastest time with Dayle ITM Racing's Murphy and Orr-West next up ahead of John Penny, Whitley and an improving Tayler Bryant for MTF Finance.

Best Bars Toyota 86 Championship - Round 4 Pukekohe Park - Practice 1