{"id":120537,"date":"2025-11-06T05:51:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T05:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/120537\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T05:51:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T05:51:14","slug":"sprague-takes-lead-in-mazda-pro8-new-zealand-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/120537\/","title":{"rendered":"Sprague takes lead in Mazda Pro8 New Zealand series"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local driver Corban Sprague has immediately stamped his mark on the 2025\/26 Mazda Pro8 New Zealand series winning two of the three races of the opening round held at the Timaru International Raceway over the weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great start to the series,\u201d commented Sprague. \u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t like to be overconfident however I back myself.\u00a0 We know we have the speed and we hope to be more on top of our reliability this season after some difficulties last summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sprague finished a frustrating runner up in last season\u2019s series and is out to make amends this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a bit of redemption as motivation although I like to think I have stepped up a level.\u00a0 There are still little mistakes I made in the weekend that I need to improve on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"#84 Corban Sprague \u2013 photo Neil Howie Enuff Photography.<\/p>\n

There was no rest over the winter with tackling the Toyota 86 Trophy Series as well as attending the week-long Elite Motorsport Academy in Dunedin in July, set up to foster up and coming Kiwi talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a great experience covering everything outside of driving which is so important,\u201d said Sprague. \u00a0\u201cI learnt a massive amount from the week which is going to help me not only in racing but also in life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is so much more to what happens off the track for example heading into a race weekend I\u2019m thinking about and preparing everything that goes into making it successful, including nutrition, hydration, media, sponsorship and sleep, which can have a massive impact on a race day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sprague qualified the fastest on Saturday morning before a marble-draw first race saw him start from the rear of the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a super-hectic race, so I just picked my moves as I didn\u2019t want to make any mistakes.\u00a0 Made my way to fifth but an incident on the last lap which I avoided put me back to seventh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started from fourth for the second 10-lapper.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a great start and there was a red flag which meant a full restart.\u00a0 That went much better, and I was able to lead from the first lap, putting down consistent lap times and holding onto the lead to the (checkered) flag.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the final third race, I started in second alongside Hamish Evans.\u00a0 Got a good start and led off turn one.\u00a0 Hamish is a good driver and kept the pressure on me through the whole race.\u00a0 I was able to get a two-second gap and went on to take the win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Corban Sprague \u2013 photo Neil Howie \u2013 Enuff Photography.<\/p>\n

Sprague has his eye on the TA2 NZ Series with a view to competing next summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a matter of staying sharp and race fit as I work towards moving up a category.\u00a0 I was fortunate to have a TA2 test at Hampton Downs which was an awesome experience.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great class for a young fellow and I\u2019m keen on pursuing it.\u00a0 The power was awesome, they move around with their big side walled tyre which I enjoy, not too different to how the Mazda handles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sprague won the Mazda Pro8 NZ round and is leading the series by 15-points back to Hamish Evans and Jared Pryke in third.\u00a0 The second of five rounds takes place at the Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell 21-23 November 2025.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local driver Corban Sprague has immediately stamped his mark on the 2025\/26 Mazda Pro8 New Zealand series winning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84890,84891,84892,29882,84893,111,43,139,69,78698,84894,84895],"class_list":["post-120537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-corban-sprague","tag-corban-sprague-motorsport","tag-euromarque-motorsport-park","tag-highlands-motorsport-park","tag-mazda-pro8-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-talkmotorsport","tag-teretonga-park","tag-timaru-international-raceway"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}