Rooney takes two from two

Jackson Rooney made it two from two at Hampton Downs this morning after an action-packed second race at the penultimate round of the 2023-2024 Toyota 86 Championship.

Starting eighth in a reverse grid format start that had Ryan Denize and debutant Tyler Collins on the front row, Rooney made a great start and came away unscathed after a first lap incident wrecked the race for Collins, Justin Allen, early leader Lockie Bloxsom and Tom Bewley.

Rooney had to pass Denize for the lead but once by he was able to get his head down and build a decent lead over the chasing pack. That pack was ultimately lead by William Exton and Hunter Robb, who enjoyed a very fine battle on their way to second and third – a battle very similar to the one they had in Saturday’s first race.

Ahead of them all though was Rooney and he was delighted with his second win. “RaceLab have done a great job and we’ve really nailed it,” said Rooney afterwards.

“It was pretty chaotic at the start and it was good to get through but really it’s the team that have put me in this position with lots of hard work.”

Behind the top three Hayden Bakkerus had a lonely but solid race in fourth place while Tayler Bryant avoided all of the early action to take fifth and his best result of the season so far.

Next up was Tom Bewley who lost a lot of time in the first lap drama, but he eventually found a way past a fired-up Will Morton to take sixth.

Morton came home seventh but may have been kicking himself for a move earlier in the race when he was able to challenge Denize for the lead into the first turn but was just a little optimistic with his exit speed and fell back a few places. Nonetheless, he drove what was unquestionably his strongest race in several seasons competing in the championship.

Master class racers John Penny and Christina Orr-West were next up in eighth and ninth while Harry Townshend made decent progress to finish inside the top ten.

2023-2024 Toyota 86 Championship – Round 5 Hampton Downs – Race 2