A series of consistent finishes has enabled young Timaru driver Corban Sprague to finish runner-up in the Toyota TR86 Trophy Series.
Going into the fourth and final round at the Taupō International Motorsport Park, Sprague was clinging on to second place and in need of a racing miracle to sneak into first.
The miracle did not transpire and after qualifying fifth, a brake power issue in the first race meant he had to take an evasive manoeuvre to cut across the grass, leading to a seventh-place finish.
The final race of the series took the form of a 25-lap endurance race and despite starting P7, Sprague battled away to pick up a much-needed fourth placing and secure his spot as second overall in the trophy series.
He said he was pleased with his debut performance in the series.
‘‘The results on the weekend probably weren’t what I was after but I think to secure second in the trophy series was definitely the highlight.
‘‘The prize for that gets me a car lease to jump into the main series [GR86] for next season.
‘‘It’s been a massive learning curve for me. We went into the series a bit on back foot with not a lot of testing, so we were sort of playing catch-up all season and while we were doing that everyone else was improving.
‘‘As a driver, though, I’ve really improved, and just getting to work with qualified, really experienced engineers and stuff, has really fine-tuned my driving to next level.’’
While proud of finishing second, he said he had higher ambitions.
‘‘It’s still not No 1. I am getting a bit sick of second places — I’ve done three championships and keep getting second.
‘‘The race pace was really strong, one of the fastest — it’s just my lack of qualifying that made it real challenging in the races. That’s been a bit of an ongoing thing each round this series, and sort of let us down a little bit.
‘‘Overall, though, I think I’ve got to be pretty happy. It’s all been a great learning experience for my future.’’
Although he won a car lease for next season’s GR86 series, he said he would have to find the funds himself to compete.
‘‘That’s what we will be aiming towards but quite a lot of hard work has to be put in by me to find the funds to run the car. Competing in that series would be a great stepping stone into a potential leap over to Australia.
‘‘Going forward, the full focus will be trying to get a budget to compete and then we’ll see what’s next after that.’’
He was very appreciative of everyone who had helped.
‘‘The support from home has been amazing, I’ve got a great group of sponsors locally who helped get me up to the North Island to compete. It’s just been awesome.’’
