Kaleb Ngatoa picked up his first victory in the Toyota 86 Championship in the final round at Hampton Downs on Sunday. Behind him here, Callum Hedge would win two races and the title.
Kaleb Ngatoa picked up his first victory in the Toyota 86 Championship in the final round at Hampton Downs on Sunday. Behind him here, Callum Hedge would win two races and the title.
Marton teenager Kaleb Ngatoa finished his debut Toyota 86 Championship season where he had wanted to spend the entire campaign – on top of the podium yesterday morning.
Ngatoa had an excellent weekend at Hampton Downs for the sixth and final round of the championship with one victory and two runnerup placings from the three races, eclipsing his previous best effort last month at Manfeild where he managed a third and fifth-placed effort.
He swapped 1-2 finishes with Auckland's Callum Hedge in each race, with the Aucklander and fellow rookie winning the championship after previous series leader Jaden Ransley of Christchurch crashed in the opening race and could not make back the points difference yesterday.
The qualifying laps were held in rainy conditions on Saturday morning and Ngatoa put his JJ Walters/Capture Signs Toyota second on the grid for Race 1 alongside Hedge.
The Aucklander made the break from the lights, and secured a good getaway to put a couple of car lengths on Ngatoa and the rest of the field after the first turn.
However, Ngatoa was having his best drive of the season so far and kept Hedge within sight, as it was only in the latter stages of the race that the leader stretched his lead back to a few car lengths.
The bigger story, as far as the championship goes, was being played out back in the pack, as Ransley had only qualified sixth and fell back to seventh early.
The Cantabrian then fought hard to make his way back up to fourth after a battle with Auckland's Brock Gilchrist, before overtaking another Aucklander in Arran Crighton for third, which would have been enough to maintain his series points lead.
However, Auckland's Connor Adam, who Ransley had previously passed, now came up to challenge the Top 5 and tried to force his way up the inside of Gilchrist's car on the fourth turn.
They clipped front wheels and Adam was flipped over, barrel rolling into the middle of the track in front of traffic and collecting Ransley, with both cars coming to rest in the gravel the right way up, but with Ransley's title hopes now slipping through his fingers.
Onto Sunday morning's race and Hedge again made a good start, but this time Ngatoa was able to take the battle to the Aucklander.
Ngatoa set the fastest lap of the race and was able to dive down the inside of Hedge's car coming out of the hairpin on the fifth lap to take the lead.
With four laps to go, a safety car came out when Palmerston North's Jacob Cranston had an accident, and once the damaged car was removed from the gravel, there was not enough time for a restart and Ngatoa took took the checkered flag as the race stayed under caution.
Ransley had worked his way up to third to keep bare hopes of the title alive, but by finishing second and leading by 64 points, Hedge was almost home.
Yet for the moment the spotlight was on Ngatoa, who prior to Hampton Downs had to endure a season of contact with other drivers, blown diffs, losing anti-lock braking and a fault which kept his car's throttle cut-out system switching on randomly at the fourth round in Cromwell.
"It's been a while," said the teenager about his inaugural victory.
"This weekend we've had the car hooked up with the set up.
"Everything has come together and we've got our first win.
"We've done a lot of little things with the car throughout the season and I've been working on my driving as well. We're finally here."
Kaleb Ngatoa
In the third race in the afternoon, Hedge again got away to a perfect start and Ngatoa, who said he had a deflating front left tire, was able to hold second place but could not catch the Aucklander, who became the first rookie to win the overall Toyota 86 Championship.
Auckland's Peter Vodanovich completed a strong weekend with a third place finish, ahead of Crighton, while Ransley ultimately finished back in eighth in his taped-together car.
Ngatoa's three top finishes were enough to leapfrog him from ninth to seventh in the overall points standings at the end of the series, and only four points shy of Crighton in sixth.
"All up was a good round and we are happy and very proud of the team," Ngatoa said on his team Facebook page.
"Thanks to Kenny Smith for coming out and supporting again and helping bounce ideas off for setups and tactics.
"Thanks to my mate Liam Lawson, Max and the rest of the Lawson family for coming out to see me and support and all the very best for Liam's season coming up.
"Thanks to Toyota New Zealand and all the crew for helping us over the season.
"Overall a good weekend and can't wait to see the future holds."
Ngatoa was sponsored by J&J Walters, OCL Telecommunication Specialists, Robbie's Mechanical Services, Performance Industry Limited, Delta Stock Crates, Capture Signs, Downs Group, Wanganui Toyota, HiTech Motorsport and Rangitikei Tyre Centre.
2018-2019 Toyota 86 Championship
Final Standings: 1. Callum Hedge 1138; 2. Jaden Ransley 1038; 3. Jordan Baldwin 957; 4. Peter Vodanovich 895; 5. Brock Gilchrist 787; 6. Arran Crighton 785; 7. Kaleb Ngatoa 781; 8. Connor Adam 777; 9. Jacob Cranston 654; 10. Campbell Stewart 627; 11. Sam Wright 542; 12. Connor Davison 541; 13. Justin Allen 538; 14. Andrew Jackson 396; 15. Leo Bult 312; 16. Mitch Hughes 215; 17. Jake Klein 143; 18. Tony Austin 102.
