BY JEM ANSHAW
At the mid-way point of the Toyota Gazoo Racing New Zealand 86’s series Rylan Gray is continuing to lead the charge against fellow rookies and is maintaining fifth in the championship.
Hampton Downs is the home track for many of Rylan’s competitors which gave them an advantage at the last round, he still enjoyed racing there.
During Friday’s practice the Castrol New Zealand car was sitting at the bottom end of the top 10, struggling to find what would work for them.
“We have a lot of things we can change in the car to help at each track, cambers on each tyre and the direction the tires are like toe in and toe out, which is how straight the tires are, and we mostly deal with ride height which is how high and low the car will sit,” Rylan explained about what the Action Motorsport team has control over on the car.
Despite having these troubles with the car Rylan’s skill behind the wheel meant he finished 8th, 2nd and 5th in the three races.
“We were struggling a little bit but I think we will finish strong in the last three rounds of the series,” he said looking forward.
“We’ve done a bit of testing on the coming tracks and we’ve been quite quick actually, so heading to Taupo I think I’m really confident in the car and myself that we can be consistently in that top three.”
With the next round not until mid-March the team are going to give the car a mechanical refresh and Rylan will look at doing some testing at Taupo International Motorsport Park where the next round will take place.
“I’d like the thank Castrol for their support over the weekend and the Action Motorsport team for all their hard work over the season and to come,” Rylan said acknowledging the work behind the scenes needed for him to race.
