TekworkX Motorsport will field four cars at the opening round of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia 86 Series this weekend at the NTI Townsville 500.

Rossi Johnson returns for his third year in the championship with the team, with Zoe Woods and Jordan Freestone making their debuts in the national category after progressing through the Scholarship Series. Ryan Hadden is set for his first round with the team, with previous experience in the 2022 championship.

Johnson has excelled on the Townsville streets over the previous two years, with a personal best qualifying result coming for him at last year’s event.

“I feel very strong around Townsville, despite being a street circuit it’s one of the places I feel most comfortable at,” said Johnson.

“I’ll look to build into the weekend, dust off the cobwebs so to speak in practice one and then get on top of things for qualifying at the end of a busy Friday. Qualifying on street circuits is always crucial, but in these cars it’s actually quite possible to come through the field with plenty of passing opportunities.

“That being said, we want to minimise risk and being in front of the crazy mid-pack goes a long way. The season is packed into just a few months, so it’s important that we keep the car clean with some tight turnarounds between rounds this year,” concluded Johnson.

For Woods, it will be her first experience at a true street circuit but is helped by experience gained at Bathurst last year in the Australian Production Cars.

“All the hard work over the past couple of year has paid off, and I’m ready for Townsville,” said Woods.

“There is no pressure, and I can just focus on soaking it all in and continuing to progress. The crew at Norwell have been a big help the past couple of weeks in helping me prepare, and we even did some test runs with barriers around us to get comfortable with that.

“I am lucky enough to have some experience at Bathurst where the walls come up extremely quickly which is also going to help, knowing I can race comfortably up against the concrete. The competition will certainly be a step up now we’re into the main series but I will just take my time to settle in and look to make progress across the weekend,” concluded Woods.

In his maiden season of racing Freestone is experiencing firsts everywhere he goes, but Townsville has long been pencilled in as his most anticipated event.

“I’m very keen for this one, warm weather and a great event, it’s been something I’ve been looking forward to all year,” said Freestone.

“It actually feels like a bit of pressure has been lifted, there was a lot of focus on getting out of the scholarship series but now we’re here in the national category and we can start making moves. The whole weekend is going to be very different, not just being my first time on a street track but also just the atmosphere of racing at a major event will be cool.

“We’ve been all over the sim and footage from previous years to help prepare for the round, I just need to go out there and trust in my preparation,” concluded Freestone.

Hadden is coming off his best ever Toyota 86 result in the final race of the Scholarship Series, where he finished in eighth. Into his second year of racing in the category, Hadden will be able to draw on experience gained at the majority of the calendar in 2022.

“I’m really happy to be racing with TekworkX this year, it’s a great team with an experienced crew behind the drivers,” said Hadden.

“We want to be progressing towards the front of the field, and to do that we need to start with consistent top 10 results. I got to race at Townsville last year, and I really enjoyed the technicality of the circuit and the massive kerbs that you really have to monster the car over.

“The Toyota 86 series is a great stepping stone to wherever you want to go next, with track time on these big tracks and against quality opposition. I’m looking forward to getting back into it this year,” concluded Hadden.

TekworkX Motorsport’s quartet of Toyota 86 cars will be joined by the team’s trio in Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup on a busy weekend in Townsville from July 7-9.