The Hunter River Times

BY JEM ANSHAW

Rylan Gray is one step closer to confirming his racing plans for next year after spending the weekend in New Zealand for the last ever Supercars round at Pukekohe Raceway.

Always looking for opportunities to hone his race craft, the Denman teen was the only Australian entrant in the Toyota 86 class where he jumped in a borrowed car for the weekend.

“It was very cool actually, it was a very cool track and coming up over the hill seeing the grandstands fully packed was pretty cool, just amazing atmosphere over there,” he told The Hunter River Times.

Rylan was again consistent in his finishes over the weekend, placing tenth in the first two races and finishing twelfth in the third race after another rookie made contact from behind putting him off the track.

“The racing was pretty hectic over there,” he continued.

“We got in the top 10 for the weekend, we got ninth, and out of four rookies we won the rookie of the round which was good.”

These results have helped in discussions with sponsors for Rylan to contest a full season of the New Zealand Toyota 86 series next year.

He will head back over the ditch in November for testing and more negotiations, and if everything goes to plan he will start the season with three rounds in January and monthly race meetings after that.

On a local front the final round of the Excel series is just around the corner where Rylan is on track to finish in the top three, but unfortunately his age and licencing restrictions for the Mount Panorama circuit will prevent him from taking part in the support races when the Supercars contest the Bathurst 1000 on October 6-9.