Jaap van Rijn of The Netherlands won three races and Canada’s James MacDonald positioned himself for a second title as the World Driving Championship in New Zealand wrapped up its fifth round at Winton on Sunday (Nov. 9).
MacDonald, who captured the WDC crown in 2017, has accumulated 164 points after 19 of 20 races in this year’s event. He holds a 15-point lead over Australia’s Gary Hall Jr., whose only chance to unseat MacDonald from the top spot would be to win Tuesday’s (Nov. 11) final dash at Addington Raceway and see MacDonald finish last.
On Sunday, MacDonald had two seconds and a fourth among his four drives and increased his advantage over Hall by six points. MacDonald and Hall are both listed on 31-1 longshots in Tuesday’s race.
Van Rijn’s three wins vaulted him from eighth to third in the WDC standings. Also, winning on Sunday was France’s Pierre Vercruysse, himself a former WDC champion, to remain sixth, behind New Zealand’s Blair Orange and Sweden’s Mats Djuse. America’s Brett Beckwith had a second and third among his four drives and moved to eighth.
To watch replays of the 19 completed WDC races, click here.
Complete information regarding the WDC can be found at the website wdc25.nz.
WORLD DRIVING CHAMPIONSHIP
Points after 19 of 20 races
James MacDonald (Canada) 164
Gary Hall Jr. (Australia) 149
Jaap van Rijn (Netherlands) 140
Blair Orange (New Zealand) 131
Mats Djuse (Sweden) 125
Pierre Vercuysse (France) 117
Michael Nimczyk (Germany) 113
Brett Beckwith (USA) 103
Giampaolo Minnucci (Italy) 95
Santtu Raitala (Finland) 95