Connor Adam kicks off Best Bars 86 Championship

The last week of November made for a busy week for Connor Adam. The start of the 2019/20 Best Bars Toyota 86 Championship got underway with the quest for that Championship Title with a field of 19 making the opening round.

In what must be one of the most visible and stand out looking cars in the series, certainly the easiest to find Connor had plenty of news to cap of the start of race week with the announcement that AdBlue by Crempro have joined the team and welcomed them aboard as another partner in what is the most vivid car on track.

“Its so great to have Crempro come and join us and along with my other sponsors I will certainly be giving it my best this season, to do well for them and all the supporters I have and I can’t thank them all enough” commented Connor on Friday afternoon at the teams announcement following practice at Pukekhoe Park Raceway.

If that wasn’t enough and you happen to think the car looks great then Connor Adam Motorsport also this week launched a series of limited-edition collector item Tee’s, Sweatshirts and Hoodies featuring the all-new look for the car this season. It’s design hails from the Speedways of the United States in terms of its design layout and heritage. So now not only the car stands out but now you can too. When at the track simply stop by the team and grab what could be the most fashionable and sort after item around this season and you too can stand out in the crowd.

To race weekend and a solid performance on Friday in practice topping the time sheets as everyone dialed into the season on a day that produced a mixed bag of weather conditions with even the odd shower and very warm conditions to get things underway.

Saturday morning dawned with clear skies, warm and humid and qualifying resulted in a 5th place starting position for race 1. In a very tightly fought first race Connor judged those around him at the right time and in the closing laps made his well thought out move to finish a fine 4th. Adam commented post-race “the car was great and we focused on the last section of the race when we thought the car would come on and made sure we brought the car home so I am pretty happy.”

Sunday morning saw the second of the three races for the meeting with Connor starting fourth on the grid it was mirror image of Saturdays opening race with side by side action throughout the first half of the race with Connor Adam running anywhere from fourth to seventh in the PostHaste rocket as the field fought with each other using the long back straight at Pukekohe to draft and challenge for positions. The racing certainly showing that this championship will be hotly contested and fought out by as many as ten different drivers. Many playing their hands and giving a true indication of how tight the racing with be. Connor ultimately bringing the car home to seventh but again the important factor in this series is finishing races and all points count.

Onwards to the final race of the weekend and more importantly the skies darkened around Pukekohe Park Raceway with the hint of rain in the air. Thankfully it stayed away however it kept the teams guessing on if it would. It was a blinding start once again from Connor and the top half of the field fought for track position into Pukekhoe’s famous turn one with all making it though. However, as they say rubbing is racing and in a one-make series one has to accept that at times and Connor was to suffer a bit of a bump and run into the complex on the back straight dropping him down the field. It was then to start a great drive back though the field after getting put into the grass. Setting the fourth fastest lap time of the race he fought back into the top ten and had more car pace late in the race until a late safety car period backed the field up to finish under the yellow taking away any chance of gaining more track positions.

“It was a shame, I could feel the car coming on and knew we had a bit more so we could get back in there” said Connor.

“The big thing was we learnt a lot about the new tyres and the set up. The car is straight and good leading into those back to back rounds in the New Year so we bank this round and move on.