Kiwi relishes Bathurst ‘cut and thrust’

Chris White – rookie winner in the 2024/25 Bridgestone GR86 Championship – made his Bathurst debut over the weekend on the support bill for the Bathurst 1000.

He won his drive in the third round of this year’s Toyota Australia GR Cup thanks to his successes in New Zealand, and headed to the world-famous event hoping to make steady progress over the weekend’s practice sessions, qualifying and three races.

A huge crash in the first race ended any chance White had of progressing from his 26th spot on the grid, but he made big strides over the two remaining races.

In the second race he moved forward to 22nd. In the final race he got into the groove and made solid progress to 14th at the flag.

“We had set out to find the pace to be in or just outside the top 10 within the three races, so in the end getting to 14th with only two races was pretty satisfying,” says White, of Christchurch.

“We had plenty of pace in the last race based on what we had learned in race two. I’m confident had we been able to run three races that we would have found even more pace for the final race on the Sunday morning before the 1,000km.”

With just a couple of weeks to go until the New Zealand season kicks off at Hampton Downs, the dream weekend at Mount Panorama provided an opportunity to blow out any cobwebs.

“It was great to be out there racing. It’s certainly slightly different to the New Zealand championship as the field in Australia is bigger, the cars run on different tyres, and it’s very much cut and thrust and elbows out stuff on the track.

“That’s good learning for me and I’ve certainly learned a bit more about tyre management, which I will take into the Bridgestone GR86 Championship this season.”

White won’t have long to wait before he’s back behind the wheel. The young gun is teaming up with Neale Motorsport as he aims to back up being rookie of the year in 2024/25 with a title challenge this season.