Coatesville driver back from Bathurst
A Coatesville driver is back from his first drive on the iconic Bathurst 1000 circuit in Australia.
Ash Blewett raced in three races over October 8-9 in the support category Toyota 86 Race Series.
The 26-year-old scored the opportunity to compete on the 6.8 kilometre track as part of his prize for winning the 2015-2016 Toyota Finance 86 Championship.
Blewett says the Bathurst circuit has multiple challenges.
‘‘It’s a really high risk circuit with about half of the track surrounded by concrete barriers, so there’s some pretty difficult high speed corners,’’ he says.
‘‘It’s an interesting exercise in self restraint and making sure you drive within your limits and within what the vehicle is capable of.’’
With the qualifying session shortened, the times from the two practice sessions were used to determine the grid placings.
For Blewett, this meant starting 19th instead of further up.
‘‘I guess you take it on as a new challenge - that now we’re starting we’re starting halfway through the field - and simply look at it as a challenge to try an improve as many places as possible throughout the racing.’’
During the two days of racing, the team progressed to 17th, then 12th, finishing in eighth place in the final race.
Blewett says he thinks the races went well, ’’a pretty good effort’’, despite the early disappointment over the initial grid placing.
A technical field service engineer for Bridgestone New Zealand, Blewett has been racing since his early teens, first in karts and then in BMWs.
He’s competed in three seasons of the Toyota 86 Championship.
One advantage of driving the Australian version of the car at Bathurst, Blewett says, is that they’re easier to control due to a more progressive street tyre.
‘‘Having a car that was slightly more forgiving did make it a little bit easier to learn a more difficult track that has high risk attached to it.’’
Blewett will soon be competing again in the 2016-2017 Toyota 86 Championship starting in November, as a support category to the Australian Supercars event at Pukekohe.
He says he’s keen to ‘‘keep progressing’’ and continue to go faster, with the ambition of racing in the Toyota Racing Series (TRS) class eventually.