World 240s 2026
Preview
Kia Ora and welcome to the Toolshed Paradise Valley Speedway in Rotorua, New Zealand for the 2026 PTS Logistics World Invitation Superstock Championship racing Friday 23rd January 6.15pm and Saturday 24th January 6.30pm (GMT+13) as around 100 cars look to take the title.
The World 240s is ran over 3 mixed grid races on Saturday night, with the highest points scorer from the 3 races declared the World 240s winner. There are 7 pre-qualfiers for the World 240s: 515GB Frankie Wainman Jnr, 14H Rick Wobbes, 5GB Charlie Sworder, 175GB Karl Hawkins, 555GB Frankie Wainman Jnr Jnr, 5G Josh Prentice (last year’s winner) & 166V Hayden Hart (last year’s tier 2 winner).
The remaining drivers will compete in qualifying on Friday night, 4 groups of 23 drivers with the top 4 from each group qualifying (same 3 heat mixed grid format) and then the top 3 from Saturdays Repecharge to make a 26 car World 240s.
The groups can be found below but the BriSCA drivers aiming to qualify are: 213GB Tom Bennett (Green Group, F2 213, son of ex-F1 413), 36GB Jordan Falding & 364GB Rob Plant (Blue Group), 20GB Liam Gilbank (Red Group), 22GB Lewis Hunter (Yellow Group).
We will aim to provide unofficial results after each set of heats on our BSCDA social media.
The live stream can be found here: https://www.thepitstv.co.nz/
Qualifying Night Update
213GB Tom Bennett (Green Group): 11th, 14th, 11th
36GB Jordan Falding (Blue Group): 11th, DNF, 12th
364GB Rob Plant (Blue Group): DNF, 13th, 14th
20GB Liam Gilbank (Red Group): 10th, 18th, 8th
22GB Lewis Hunter (Yellow Group): 14th, 15th, 14th
The results from qualifying night unfortunately means no qualifiers for the World 240s however 213GB Tom Bennett and 20GB Liam Gilbank have done enough to get into Saturday nights Repecharge where the top 3 will qualify for the World 240s, if they don’t qualify they will compete in the Tier 2 Championship where the winner over 3 heats will qualify for the 2027 World 240s.
Jordan Falding, Rob Plant and Lewis Hunter will compete in the Tier 3 Championship.
The GB/NL pre-qualifiers Charlie Sworder, Rick Wobbes, Frankie Wainman Jnr Jnr and Karl Hawkins managed good practice laps over the evening, unfortunately Frankie Wainman Jnr suffered mechanical issues so didn’t manage many laps.
After a night of hard, fast racing, the 16 qualifiers from the groups have joined the 5 British qualifiers and 2 NZ pre-qualifiers to form most of the 26 car field for the World 240s. The remaining 3 spots will be decided through the Repecharge.
The newly crowned 1NZV Brad Uhlenberg continued where he left off last week with a win in his first Heat as well as 99m Todd Hemingway showing why he is one of the favourites for the title. Scott Tennant 808c had a very strong qualifying night, finishing in the top 3 in all 3 Heats. Peter, Asher and Ethan Rees all head into the Finals along with the new 3NZ William Humphries. A strong contingent of Rotorua drivers also had a good set of results with 9r Brent Stewart, 14r AJ Axtens, 45r Dion Henderson and 94r Alan McRobbie all progressing. 5G Josh Prentice & 166V Hayden Hart will join the 5 BriSCA qualifiers, 5GB Charlie Sworder, 14H Rick Wobbes, 175GB Karl Hawkins, 515GB Frankie Wainman Jnr and 555GB Frankie Wainman Jnr Jnr and go head to head in 3 Heats to decide the champion.
Again we will aim to provide unofficial results on the BSCDA socials throughout the evening.
Postponed
Due to showers the World 240s Finals night has been postponed to Friday 30th January at 6.30pm.
Pre-Finals Night Update
We are looking forward to the postponed Finals night, coming Friday 30th January at 6.30pm (GMT+13, so 5.30am UK Time)
The postponement has meant 1NZV Brad Uhlenberg, 2NZG Ethan Rees, 5G Josh Prentice, 10G Peter Rees, 126G Asher Rees, 166V Hayden Hart and 307S Matthew Picard who had qualified and are no longer able to make it, they have been replaced by the next drivers from the top of their respective groups on qualifying night who are: 5M Elias Dykstra, 9B Adam Groome, 36GB Jordan Falding (extra GB invited), 38M Ross Ashby, 81G James Clark, one further to be confirmed and 1 extra place will be taken from the Repecharge (now top 4 go through). Our World 240s drivers are 5GB Charlie Sworder, 14H Rick Wobbes, 36GB Jordan Falding, 175GB Karl Hawkins, 515GB Frankie Wainman Jnr and 555GB Frankie Wainman Jnr Jnr.
Tier 2 (and the Repecharge) now consists of the next 25 available drivers meaning Tier 3 has been removed from the programme. The top 4 will advance from the Repecharge to give a 26 car World 240s Championship, another 3 cars will then join Tier 2 for a 24 car field. Our drivers in the Repecharge with the top 4 advancing to the World 240s or the Tier 2 Championship should they not qualify are 20GB Liam Gilbank (starting 6th), 213GB Tom Bennett (starting 7th), 22GB Lewis Hunter (starting 11th) and 364GB Rob Plant (starting 17th).
Once again the night is being streamed by https://www.thepitstv.co.nz and we will aim to provide results on the BSCDA socials throughout the evening.
Finals Night
In the Repecharge 75S Carl Shearer took the win from 77M Luke Alderdice, 193R Dan Hunter and 29M Ryan Hunt. The GB drivers had a tough race with 22GB Lewis Hunter & 364GB Rob Plant’s race coming to an end early. 20GB Liam Gilbank was running 5th for majority before getting stopped on the last lap. 213GB Tom Bennett had an action packed race coming home in 16th.
Onto Heat 1 for the World 240s Finals and it finished just as it started for 5GB Charlie Sworder & 555GB Frankie Wainman Jnr Jnr who were involved in a spectacular crash down the back straight involving 45R Dion Henderson and 26V Kaelin Mooney. The race was won by 971C Jayden Ward with 14H Rick Wobbes coming home 6th and the fastest lap. 515GB Frankie Wainman Jnr in 13th, 175GB Karl Hawkins 14th and 36GB Jordan Falding in 15th.
Heat 2 for the World 240s had 808C Scott Tennant taking the win with 515GB Frankie Wainman Jnr coming home in 7th. 14H continues his good night with a 9th. 5GB in 10th, 36GB 17th and 555GB unfortunately didn’t make it out.
In Tier 2, Heat 1, 213GB was the highest Brit in 11th with 364GB not far behind in 12th and 20GB 16th after a late spin.
Tier 2, Heat 2, it was a fantastic drive from both Tom Bennett and Rob Plant who came home in 2nd and 3rd. With Lewis Hunter and Liam Gilbank further back in 7th and 8th.
Points heading into the World 240s Heat 3:
1st – 971C Jayden Ward – 50
2nd – 808C Scott Tennant – 46
3rd – 77M Luke Alderdice – 43
4th – 72A Cody McKee – 40
5th – 14NL Rick Wobbes – 39
515GB is on 34.
In World 240s Heat 3, 89W Dale Robertson took the win with 515GB Frankie Wainman Jnr coming home in 8th, 14NL Rick Wobbes in 12th and 36GB Jordan Falding in 13th.
Congratulations to 971C Jayden Ward on the championship win with 808C Scott Tennant in 2nd and 3NZP William Humphries rounding out the top 3.
In the Tier 2 Heat 3, 22GB Lewis Hunter was 4th, 364GB Rob Plant 9th, 213GB Tom Bennett 12th and 20GB Liam Gilbank DNF.
Up next Teams racing practice night at Waikaraka Speedway tomorrow, followed by some singles racing – more details to follow.