Teretonga Park is apparently the southern most racing circuit in the world. The circuit, primarily used for tin-tops and junior formula races, can be found in the south-west regions of New Zealand and it is at this circuit that the Toyota Racing Series begins its 2010 campaign.These 1.8 litre 200BHP machines just fall short of Formula 3 in terms of power output; however any drive stability gained by lesser power is lost thanks to less efficient aerodynamics, thereby making these cars slide a little more through corners.
Since the end of the 2008-09 season, the reigning champion Mitch Cunningham (brother of IndyLights pilot, Wade) has found things a little tough going in the New Zealand Porsche GT3 Cup and although there were rumours that the former IndyLights driver may return to the series, it has yet to come to fruition. Another exponent of the Toyota Racing Series is Australian driver Brendon Hartley, who is now the reserve driver for the F1 Red Bull Racing Team.
With Cunningham absent, the series welcomes three drivers that may become contenders for the title - 2009 Australian Formula Ford Runner-up, Mitch Evans; Formula Renault 3.5 pilot, Sten Pentus and Formula 3 driver Lucas Foresti - the latter is managed by former Formula 1 and CART legend, Roberto Moreno - who is taking part in the series in order to keep himself "race-fit" for the upcoming season.
An odd inclusion on the grid is the former A1GP driver, Earl Bamber, whose career appears to have ground somewhat to a halt since the collapse of the World Cup of Racing in 2009. Rejoining the Toyota Racing Series may be seen as a step backwards for the experienced racer.
For the first of the three races of weekend, 15-year-old Evans lines up on pole in a field of just 11 cars; although the field is only separated by just over a second. The Estonian Pentus sits in second place, with Daniel Jilesen and Andrew Waite just behind, while Bamber and Foresti occupy the third row of the grid.
The cars form up on the grid, but when the lights go out it is Pentus who jumps ahead of the pack following a poor getaway by the young Evans - there are no changes behind the front two though, as the pack fall into a single-file formation around the very fast first corner. It's not all easy going though as Bamber begins to push the Brazilian Foresti hard for 5th place - Bamber isn't the only former-A1GP man on his team, as a number of Team New Zealand mechanics have also dropped back to work on his Triple X Motorsport car.
The race at the front changes dramatically on the sixth lap as Pentus overcooks his number 20 Giles Motorsports machine in the last corner and goes far too wide - Evans sees an opportunity to grab the lead and he takes it with an assured dive.
As the first race goes on, Foresti pulls away from Bamber and latches on to the back of Waite; however while Foresti is easily the more stable of the two cars through the corners, Waite continuously pulls away on the start/finish straight. Not far ahead of them, another battle is developing between Jilesen and Pentus - Jilesen has had a very quiet event up on to this point, too far ahead of Waite to be worried by him, but not close enough to Pentus to properly challenge; however the New Zealand driver has only a couple of laps to challenge the second-place driver.
Just as the last lap gets under way, the car driven by Stefan Webling begins to wobble violently on the straight as his right-rear tyres shreds up. Webling, who was in 9th position, pulls off to the left and vacates his stricken machine.
While the race ends poorly for Webling, Evans gets his dream start to the 2010 Toyota Racing Series campaign with an easy win - once the youngster has passed Pentus, there were no challenges to worry him. Pentus and Jilesen file home in 2nd and 3rd places, completing a 1-2-3 finish for the Giles Motorsports team - an absolutely dominant performance during which no other team owner got even close.
This was very far from the most exciting race I had ever seen. Although Teretonga Park is wonderful circuit, the racing on this occasion was somewhat flat - hopefully the second and third races will provide more action.
Race Quality: 2 out of 5
Source Quality: B+ (TV Rip, but lots of compression)
(February 2010)
Since the end of the 2008-09 season, the reigning champion Mitch Cunningham (brother of IndyLights pilot, Wade) has found things a little tough going in the New Zealand Porsche GT3 Cup and although there were rumours that the former IndyLights driver may return to the series, it has yet to come to fruition. Another exponent of the Toyota Racing Series is Australian driver Brendon Hartley, who is now the reserve driver for the F1 Red Bull Racing Team.
With Cunningham absent, the series welcomes three drivers that may become contenders for the title - 2009 Australian Formula Ford Runner-up, Mitch Evans; Formula Renault 3.5 pilot, Sten Pentus and Formula 3 driver Lucas Foresti - the latter is managed by former Formula 1 and CART legend, Roberto Moreno - who is taking part in the series in order to keep himself "race-fit" for the upcoming season.An odd inclusion on the grid is the former A1GP driver, Earl Bamber, whose career appears to have ground somewhat to a halt since the collapse of the World Cup of Racing in 2009. Rejoining the Toyota Racing Series may be seen as a step backwards for the experienced racer.
For the first of the three races of weekend, 15-year-old Evans lines up on pole in a field of just 11 cars; although the field is only separated by just over a second. The Estonian Pentus sits in second place, with Daniel Jilesen and Andrew Waite just behind, while Bamber and Foresti occupy the third row of the grid.The cars form up on the grid, but when the lights go out it is Pentus who jumps ahead of the pack following a poor getaway by the young Evans - there are no changes behind the front two though, as the pack fall into a single-file formation around the very fast first corner. It's not all easy going though as Bamber begins to push the Brazilian Foresti hard for 5th place - Bamber isn't the only former-A1GP man on his team, as a number of Team New Zealand mechanics have also dropped back to work on his Triple X Motorsport car.
The race at the front changes dramatically on the sixth lap as Pentus overcooks his number 20 Giles Motorsports machine in the last corner and goes far too wide - Evans sees an opportunity to grab the lead and he takes it with an assured dive.
As the first race goes on, Foresti pulls away from Bamber and latches on to the back of Waite; however while Foresti is easily the more stable of the two cars through the corners, Waite continuously pulls away on the start/finish straight. Not far ahead of them, another battle is developing between Jilesen and Pentus - Jilesen has had a very quiet event up on to this point, too far ahead of Waite to be worried by him, but not close enough to Pentus to properly challenge; however the New Zealand driver has only a couple of laps to challenge the second-place driver.
Just as the last lap gets under way, the car driven by Stefan Webling begins to wobble violently on the straight as his right-rear tyres shreds up. Webling, who was in 9th position, pulls off to the left and vacates his stricken machine.While the race ends poorly for Webling, Evans gets his dream start to the 2010 Toyota Racing Series campaign with an easy win - once the youngster has passed Pentus, there were no challenges to worry him. Pentus and Jilesen file home in 2nd and 3rd places, completing a 1-2-3 finish for the Giles Motorsports team - an absolutely dominant performance during which no other team owner got even close.
This was very far from the most exciting race I had ever seen. Although Teretonga Park is wonderful circuit, the racing on this occasion was somewhat flat - hopefully the second and third races will provide more action.
Race Quality: 2 out of 5
Source Quality: B+ (TV Rip, but lots of compression)
(February 2010)
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