Murphy confirms second shot at Best Bars Toyota 86 title

Twenty year old Hawke’s Bay driver Ronan Murphy will return to the 2021-2022 Best Bars Toyota 86 Championship for a second season and a shot at New Zealand’s premier saloon car racing title.

Ronan – son of four time Bathurst winner Greg Murphy – will return as part of a two car Dayle ITM team and is hoping to build on an impressive first season in the category in 2020-2021, when he made the transition from several seasons in single seaters to saloon cars with two podium finishes and several strong performances.

“I’m really looking forward to the 2021-2022 championship,” said the popular racer. “Last season was second to none competition wise and this season is shaping up to be even better with a big field and some very strong drivers.

“I am really looking forward to having another crack at one of, if not the best, field of competitors in NZ right now. You have to give credit to everyone at TOYOTA GAZOO Racing New Zealand for putting together such a brilliant, premier championship. And I’m stoked I’m going to be part of it.

“Continued partnerships can only get stronger, so I am really looking forward to once again driving the Dayle ITM Racing #91 with the awesome team from Action Motorsport. We will be looking to build on where we left off at Taupo last season and that means being at the sharp end of the field.

“A massive thank you goes out to them, as well as my group of supporters and sponsors for the coming season. I will be looking to improve on my consistency first and foremost. I always felt that outright speed was never a problem last season, but the odd mistake and a few other little things meant we didn’t quite achieve what we wanted to.

“I learned a lot and hope that I can utilise the experience to be at the front week in week out this year. The goal for the season is consistency and minimising mistakes and in turn hopefully finish higher up in the championship this season.”

The 2021-2022 Best Bars Toyota 86 Championship will begin in November with its biggest ever field and its largest ever prize fund. Up to 24 cars are expected to race for a huge prize package that will include a V8 Supercar test with Tripe Eight Race Engineering and the biggest cash prize pool ever offered to a domestic New Zealand motorsport championship.

Battle commences at Hampton Downs on November 12-14 before a short trip to Pukekohe Park three weeks later over the weekend of December 3-5.

After the Christmas break the teams and drivers will head south to Cromwell for the Highlands weekend on January 14-16 and then move to Christchurch for the Ruapuna weekend on January 21-23. Three weekends later it’s back to Hampton Downs on February 11-13 for the New Zealand Grand Prix meeting before the season finale at the Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupo on March 25-27.