Reining champion Rowan Shepherd takes race win

Rowan Shepherd has taken a comfortable race win, to get his first of the season at Mike Pero Motorsport Park. 

Shepherd held off a pack of five cars to take the race win after starting from pole. 

The pack had Marco Giltrap, Simon Evans, Justin Allen, Ronan Murphy, and rookie Hugo Allen fighting for second through to sixth. 

Shepherd was able to control the race, pulling away from the racing pack when he needed to. 

“I was able to control it but it got harder as the race progressed and certainly in the last three laps I was very nervous about being able to stay ahead as I was struggling for grip,” Shepherd said after the race.

“We got there though and it’s great to take the win.”

There was drama on the first lap of the race as Mark Mallard had a moment at the Pot Hole corner after contact, while the same happened a lap later as he fought for a spot in the top ten. 

Rianna O’Meara Hunt struggled to get her car off the line, dropping back through the pack after qualifying for the race in ninth. 

The top four cars were able to pull away from the rest of the field in the early laps before Murphy was able to start clawing back the gap they had gained. Allen also closed the gap soon after to make a six-car battle pack late in the race. 

There was a race-long battle for position at the back half of the top ten with Dion Pitt finishing seventh, after a side by side battle with Zac Stichbury, who would finish eighth 

John Penny, who took a race win at round one, had an impressive start to the race moving into the top ten after starting from 15th on the grid, before making contact with Clay Osborne, forcing him to come to pit lane for a tyre puncture. 

Behind the battle pack fighting for the podium,  Pitt, Stichbury, McCutcheon and Fynn Osborne completed the top ten.

The field will be back out on track tomorrow for two more races.

Toyota 86 Championship – Round 2 – Mike Pero Motorsport Park – Race 1