A bold move to walk up and introduce himself to one of the most influential people in Australasian Motorsport might have lit the fuse, but Hawkes Bay’s Jackson Rooney’s career exploded this week with news the Tony Quinn Foundation had awarded him their 2024 Supercar test prize. Rooney enjoyed a run of sensational form and won the last five of six races in the Toyota 86 Championship, an almost unique achievement that included doing the ‘triple’ at the penultimate round at Hampton Downs. He also won two of the three races last weekend at the Supercars debut weekend at Taupo International Motorsp ..read more

Blake Knowles has won the 2024 NAPA Auto Parts New Zealand Formula Ford Championship title after three closely fought races at the Supercars round held at the Taupo Motorsport Park in Taupo over the weekend. Just two-points separated Knowles from Seb Manson with Will Neale finishing in third. Also decided was the 2023/24 Giltrap Group North Island Formula Ford Series with the title going to last season’s winner, Dylan Grant, ahead of Mason Potter and Blake Dowdall. Heading into the final fourth national round, Knowles had a handy 24-point lead over Manson with a maximum of 227-points on offer ..read more

The trip back home to Taupo International Motorsport Park was fruitful for SCT Motorsport’s Jaxon Evans during Round 3 of the Repco Supercars Championship in front of family and friends in New Zealand. Supercars maiden trip to Taupo marked Evans’ first race in his home land since 2017, and it was a homecoming of sorts after contesting prestigious events overseas during this time. Evans was one of many drivers to complete laps of the Taupo circuit prior to Supercars’ first trip to the venue and it was advantageous as New Zealand’s weather made for tough conditions encountered alongside the trac ..read more

Supercars is thrilled to announce that the inaugural ITM Taupō Super400 has drawn a crowd of 67,411 passionate spectators on its return to racing and history making event in New Zealand. Fans packed the 35th circuit to stage a Supercars Championship event over three days, including Saturday’s wet’n’wild inaugural day of Supercars racing at Taupō International Motorsport Park, where in poetic style it was kiwi Andre Heimgartner who emerged with a famous race victory before fellow kiwi Matt Payne claimed pole for Sunday’s race. New Zealand’s Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee announced th ..read more

Tom Bewley secured the 2023-2024 Toyota 86 Championship after a trouble-free drive to fifth place in the final race of the weekend at Taupo International Motorsport Park. He was helped by the retirement of his chief rival William Exton, but Bewley had everything covered as he came home to take the title by 32 points. Jackson Rooney continued his dominance of the Supercars weekend with his second win of the weekend while Hunter Robb did what he could by finishing second, but that would only mean runner up spot in the championship and the Rookie title, still a major haul for the youngster. The d ..read more

A vital victory in the reverse grid second race put Tom Bewley back on track at the final round of the 2023-2024 Toyota 86 Championship at Taupo this afternoon – his win putting him back at the top of the points table with just one race to go. “That’s certainly the most important win of the season so far for me especially after this morning,” said a delighted Bewley afterwards. “I don’t know where I’ll start in the final race but it was great to win this afternoon.” Alice Buckley revelled in the conditions to take her first podium with second place and a fine drive in the rain shortened race a ..read more

The Tony Quinn Foundation, Road Safety, will provide a $750,000 three-year support package to partner and fund the driver education programme Street Smart. Road crashes continue to be a grim reality for young drivers in New Zealand, claiming lives and causing injuries. Drivers under the age of 25 were found primarily responsible for over 3000 crashes in 2022 alone, claiming the lives of 93 people and injuring over 4000 more, 636 of those seriously. Since 2020, 351 individuals under 25 years of age have died on New Zealand roads. Among them was seventeen-year-old Kelan Stroud, who was killed in ..read more

Jackson Rooney capped off a fine day at the Taupo International Motorsport Park – taking pole position in qualifying after dominating the timesheets on the opening day of the final weekend of the Toyota 86 Championship. Still in with a mathematical chance of winning one of the most coveted titles in New Zealand motorsport, Rooney topped every timesheet during the day and pulled out all the stops to take pole position by just under two tenths of a second from William Exton. “We haven’t done that much to the car really as far as the day has gone,:” he said afterwards. “It’s just been in me and I ..read more

The Otago International Classic Rally has been won by Irishmen Kris Meeke and Noel O’Sullivan, with their Sunday speed capping off a fine weekend. The pair won all but one gravel stage on Saturday and followed it up with another impressive performance today in a Ford Escort RS1800 that’s been driven by some of the sport’s greats. Meeke is a five-time World Rally Championship event winner and on his debut on New Zealand roads, added his name to the list of internationals to win the Otago Rally. That list includes the likes of Jimmy McRae, Pasi Hagstrom, Markko Martin and Mikko Hirvonen, and Mee ..read more

The Kiwi pairing of Brendon Leitch and Tim Miles (Dayle ITM Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2) have won a thrilling second race of the opening 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS round at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria, Australia. “So happy with the result,” commented Leitch. “Tim drove a fantastic final stint and defended like a champion.” Leitch started Sunday’s race before handing over to Miles during their compulsory pitstop for the latter to take the lead until the chequered flag. This included a titanic battle with a very fast Brad Schumacher (Audi R8 LMS GT3 ..read more