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McNee dominates inaugural Toyota Finance TR86 championship
McNee dominates inaugural Toyota Finance TR86 championship
Wellingtonian Jamie McNee has celebrated his comeback to motorsport by claiming the number one spot in the inaugural Toyota Finance 86 Championship on the weekend.
The 21-year-old, who had an almost three year hiatus from the sport, wrapped up the six-meet series at Hampton Downs yesterday winning the overall championship with 1170 points. He won with a race in hand over his closest rival, and also finished the series with a win in each of the six rounds.
Going into the final round McNee had a 125 point lead on Calum Quin, after winning round five at Taupo Motorsport Park two months ago. Qualifying on Saturday went well for McNee, with his fastest times securing him pole position for race one and race three.
McNee had a fantastic start to the weekend, holding onto first place in race one and fighting his way up from P6 in the reverse grid race two to finish second.
Sunday was a tougher, with McNee finishing race three in second place only to later be disqualified for not meeting the minimum car height requirement in post race testing as the car was 0.5mm under height. Even with the DQ this result gave McNee the championship.
Nevertheless, from a P5 start, McNee left everything on the track in the final race (Race 4), resulting in a second place finish.
McNee says it was a great way to end the weekend and the overall championship.
"I really enjoyed the final race although starting from P5 I knew I had my work cut out for me so I gave it everything and had some fun with it since I already had the championship wrapped up."
Regarding his next move, McNee says he is still weighing his options.
"I would love to race in the Australian GT series but there are quite a few options out there that I will have to consider before making my final decision.
“I really enjoyed the TR86 series this year and it was fantastic to be the first winner of the series. If I can I would like to come back next year to defend my title.”
[ends]
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