All change in Castrol Toyota Racing Series

Many ‘firsts’ as New Zealand Grand Prix shifts north

The following is an excerpt preview from my monthly motorsport double page in leading industry monthly publication Autofile. Go to www.autofile.co.nz to get your free e-version emailed each month.


Hampton Downs, 11 December 2020. 

History will be made on many fronts when the Castrol Toyota Racing Series opens at Hampton Downs next month.

A range of ‘firsts’ will be recorded as the series opens with the 66th New Zealand Grand Prix and the Grand Prix itself moves to Hampton Downs for the first time, breaking a run of 13 years at the 3.033 km international track within the Circuit Chris Amon at Manfeild near Feilding in the northern Manawatu.

It is the first time since the Grand Prix was dedicated to TRS that the flagship race has been the opening round of the series. In the more usual five-round format that TRS operated until 2020 the Grand Prix was the final, and all four preceding rounds built toward it. 

As late as July, Toyota was committed to a full five round championship and Toyota Gazoo Racing General Manager Andrew Davis says the change is temporary, reflecting the tough situation faced by motorsport in the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic.

The 2021 NZGP will be the first time the FT60 will drive on the 4.0 km International Track. Hampton Downs has carried out improvements where the circuit transitions from international to national sections to make it suitable for the FT60.

The race will run over 28 laps (112.4 km). To be a Grand Prix it has to be run over at least 100 km.

For the first time, a VIP wildcard category has been opened to attract high profile New Zealand drivers. Bathurst 1000 winner Shane van Gisbergen (pictured with fellow TRS graduates Nick Cassidy, left, and Daniel Gaunt, centre) was the first to announce an entry.

With today's announcement that Queensland is opening its border to NZ he can contest the event and get to Australia afterward in time to meet his V8 championship team launch commitments.

Nick Cassidy, Dan Gaunt and Shane van Gisbergen doing spectator duty at an LMP2 race.
Image courtesy Dan Gaunt. Good bloke.

Also for the first time, the cars will be run directly under the Toyota Gazoo Racing banner, with no external teams involved. M2 boss Mark Pilcher, Giles boss Stephen Giles and Kiwi Motorsport boss Garry Orton will all have roles, and many of the mechanics who regularly work on the series are also likely to be present.

The final entry list will only be published the week before the first round, but series head Nico Caillol says 2-3 drivers per week announced through the intervening weeks.

On the basis of the strong interest shown so far - and a further driver announcement being made this afternoon* - it is fair to expect a full and talented grid of racers at the Grand Prix.

 

 

*driver announcements, as always, are a 'no names, no pack drill' affair until embargo time and the official announcement drops. It is safe to say the one coming up is a serious talent and previous winner of the GP and the series.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spectacular stadium offroad racing comes to town

Image
  Christchurch racer Bryan Chang is the first southern Thundertruck entry in his Giti Tyres Chev turbo. It was the first Thundertruck built in New Zealand to the popular ProLite design and is a multiple New Zealand champion. It's on: New Zealand’s newest race circuit kicks off the coming year with a new national championship offroad race event held over two weekends: the 2021 Mickey Thompson New Zealand Stadium Offroad Racing Championship. The new Manukau International Offroad Stadium on Prices Road near Auckland Airport is the venue for the two-round American-style stadium events, with racing to be held on 13 February and 6 March 2021. This is New Zealand offroad racing’s newest title fight and it brings the fastest and most spectacular race drivers to Auckland’s doorstep. The purpose-built racetrack features with tabletop jumps, berms, switchbacks and high speed straights, all set out to give spectators the best possible up-close view of the action. Already, entries for...
Read more

Hartley takes second at Le Mans

Image
  best of the Kiwis: former Formula 1 driver Brendon Hartley has taken second overall at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, helping the factory Toyota team to a 1-2 result in the process. The 2021 race is the first to feature the new Hypercars’ class for hybrid drivetrains. Driving the team’s #8 GR010 hypercar with Sebastien Buemi and Satoru Nakajima, he led for a significant period of the race but the car carried damage from the race start. With Buemi at the wheel, it was hit and spun, then later had to stop and reset its power system, rejoining dead last. The Hartley-Buemi-Nakajima car carved its way back to the front and then hit the lead with 33 per cent of the race done. In the closing four hours of the race it was slowed by recurring fuel pickup problems that forced the team to run with shorter driving stints. Buemi also lost a minute when the car cut out, trying to reset the car on the side of the road. They finished two laps behind the #7 GR010 of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayas...
Read more

Farewell Rocket Ron Kirkman

Image
A motorsport legend reaches the finish line Larger than life, always ready with a laugh and always keenly interested in the people he met on his own journey - ‘Rocket’ Ron Kirkman passed away in Whangarei on 22 March, aged 84. Rocket became a motorsport media darling when he contested the first Silverstone Race to the Sky at Cardrona at the tender age of 70. In the company of a bevy of fast racers half his age, Rocket contested every Race to the Sky. Each time, he stormed up the hill at the sharp end of the open wheeler field and usually came away with a podium placing. He won his class in 2001. Held in the Cardrona Valley near Wanaka, the high-profile event known as the Highlands Race to the Sky began in 2007 and was last held in April 2015. It was the longest gravel hill climb in the world, covering 14.5km, with 135 turns as it climbed from 450 metres to 1500 metres above sea level. More than 100 vehicles contested that final event. Kirkman’s Super Quad suffered a fuel pump f...
Read more