Round two of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia 86 Series takes TekworkX Motorsport’s four drivers back to Sydney Motorsport Park.

SMP has been a popular fixture on the Toyota 86 calendar in recent years and featured twice in this year’s Scholarship Series calendar in which Ryan Hadden, Zoe Woods and Jordan Freestone all competed.

Rossi Johnson enjoyed a strong run when he visited SMP for the opening round of the 2022 season, charging through the field to finish the final race in 11^th.

“It’s a track I really enjoy, even if I haven’t been able to race there as much as some people,” said Johnson.

“We know we can move forward from wherever we qualify, so it’s just about starting off strongly. We were put on the back foot in Townsville when we missed practice one, but our pace in the races was quite strong.

“I’ve been doing a lot of sim work and pouring over footage in preparation for this weekend, and I’m looking forward to putting on a good performance during what will be prime time on Saturday night,” said Johnson.

Freestone is boosted by a return to his home track.

“I’m pretty keen to get out there and right the wrongs of Townsville, so to speak,” said Freestone.

“Just knowing the track is a big positive, we have lots of prior experience there so our focus goes into continuing to improve our speed as opposed to learning a brand-new track. Obviously, the focus for this year is just to keep learning and improving, being my first year of racing,” concluded Freestone.

Hadden claimed a career best finish in the final race at Sydney Motorsport Park in round three of the Scholarship Series and will look to pick up where he left off.

“SMP is a great track, there’s lots of passing opportunities and you can really race side-by-side through a lot of the corners,” said Hadden.

“We had a great run around there last time and we’ve had a test day since then as well where the car felt quite fast. I’m super keen to go back racing, especially the night race on Saturday which will be similar to the one we did in June and the car was great under the lights.

“I’m looking forward to it, we should be on the pace right away and we can have a good weekend,” concluded Hadden.

Woods is also taking confidence in the return to a traditional circuit, one at which she has a strong foundation of existing knowledge to build from.

“It’s great to be able to build on the two weekends we’ve already had around Sydney this year,” said Woods.

“I’m looking forward to being able to fix the things that we identified from our last visit there. It’s all about continuing to improve every time we hit the track. It was great how close all the time were in Townsville; the competition is incredible, and you can really battle it out on the race track.

“Everyone brings their A game to this series, so we will do the same and look forward to a good weekend,” concluded Woods.

Round two of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia 86 Series takes place from July 28-30 at the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight, with the quartet in action alongside the team’s three drivers in Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge.