Motorsport Australia acknowledges TR86 with Supercars licence points

Motorsport Australia has recognised the high quality of driving in the New Zealand Toyota 86 Championship and its status in domestic Kiwi motorsport by awarding Supercars Superlicence points to the championship’s top performers.

Thirteen points are required to qualify for a Motorsport Australia Superlicence and the winner of the Toyota 86 Championship this season and in future will get a highly valuable five points towards that total. The championship runner up will receive four points, third place will receive three points, fourth place two points and the fifth place finisher one point.
 
It now means both TOYOTA GAZOO Racing New Zealand championships offer Supercars licence points with the winner of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series awarded ten points.
 
The links between the ultra-competitive NZ Toyota 86 Championship and the ‘main game’ series in Australia have been growing in recent seasons, with winners and top rookies appearing in one-off drives in the Australian TR86 series which supports the Supercars Championship at selected rounds.
 
This season the championship winner will receive a test with iconic racing team, Triple Eight Race Engineering and they’ll be able to add five points towards their goal of getting into the Australian Championship.
 
“We couldn’t be happier really,” explained TOYOTA GAZOO Racing New Zealand Motorsport Manager Nicolas Caillol.
 
“The championship has been very competitive for several seasons now and this year it’s just as close with three drivers in the fight for the championship with two rounds to go. It is fantastic that these points will now be allocated to the winner.”
 
Reigning champion Rowan Shepherd, multiple NZ and international champion Simon Evans and Justin Allen head into this weekend’s penultimate championship round at Taupo International Motorsport Park with just 29 points separating them.
 
 
2022 TOYOTA 86 CHAMPIONSHIP – POINTS AFTER FOUR ROUNDS
 
1 Rowan Shepherd 767
2 Simon Evans 753
3 Justin Allen 738
4 Marco Giltrap 667
5 Matthew McCutcheon 616
6 Hugo Allan 600
7 Dion Pitt 558
8 John Penny 525
9 Brock Gilchrist 444
10 Zac Stichbury 435
11 Ronan Murphy 421
12 Clay Osborne 404
13 Christina Orr-West 358
14 Mark Mallard 318
15 Chelsea Herbert 298
16 Fynn Osborne  276
17 Todd Foster  276
18 Todd Prujean  230
19 Sam Cotterill  172
20 Will Morton  164
21 Rianna O'Meara-Hunt  158