2011 Toyota Racing Series

The 2011 Toyota Racing Series was the seventh running of the Toyota Racing Series. The Toyota Racing Series is New Zealand's premier open-wheeler motorsport category.

Defending champion Mitch Evans of Giles Motorsport retained both his International Trophy and main series titles, joining Daniel Gaunt as the only drivers to have won the Series on more than one occasion, after enjoying a successful championship campaign. Evans took seven race victories – including becoming the youngest-ever winner of the New Zealand Grand Prix – and fourteen podium finishes out of a possible fifteen races. Evans clinched both championship titles at Manfield after his closest rival at the time, Scott Pye elected not to attend the final meeting of the season at Taupō due to testing commitments in Europe. Pye fell to fourth in the championship standings after strong weekends for Nick Cassidy and Jamie McNee allowed them to overhaul Pye's points tally.

Cassidy, another Giles Motorsport driver, finished as top rookie after taking the round victory at Taupō which included his first two race wins in the Series, and he also took five further podium finishes as he finished 168 points behind Evans. McNee, in his second season in the championship, took his first race victories, winning at Timaru and Hampton Downs as well as a second place at Taupō to finish 47 points clear of Pye. Russian driver Daniil Kvyat finished the best of the five European drivers in the series, finishing in fifth place for Victory Motor Racing with a solitary victory at Manfeild. Two other drivers won races during the season, Russia's Ivan Lukashevich, like fellow countryman Kvyat won at Manfeild, and Britain's Alex Lynn won at Teretonga.

Teams and drivers edit

Team No. Driver Rounds
Giles Motorsport 1   Mitch Evans[1] All
7   Nick Cassidy[1] All
13   Nick Foster[1] All
36   Alex Lynn[1] 1–4
M2 Competition 2   Earl Bamber[2] 4
4   Kotaro Sakurai[1] 1–4
5   Ivan Lukashevich[1] 1–4
11   Earl Bamber[3] 3
  Ken Smith[1] 4
22   Jordan Skinner[1] All
ETEC Motorsport 8   Jamie McNee[1] All
19   Scott Pye[1] 1–4
  Jono Lester[4] 5
20   Josh Hill[1] 1–4
48   Mario Farnbacher[1] 1–4
Dart International 17   Alastair Wootten[1] All
Victory Motor Racing 29   Daniil Kvyat[1] 1–4
87   Damon Leitch[1] All

Calendar edit

The first four rounds were part of the International Trophy.[5]

Round Date Circuit/Location
1 R1 15 January   Teretonga Park, Invercargill
R2 16 January
R3
2 R1 22 January   Timaru International Motor Raceway, Timaru
R2 23 January
R3
3 R1 5 February   Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Waikato
R2 6 February
R3
4 R1 12 February   Manfeild Autocourse, Feilding
R2 13 February
R3
5 R1 12 March   Taupo Motorsport Park, Taupō
R2 13 March
R3

Results edit

Round Circuit Pole Position Winning Driver Winning Team Round Winning Driver Round Winning Team
1 Race 1   Teretonga Park, Invercargill   Mitch Evans   Scott Pye ETEC Motorsport   Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport
Race 2   Nick Cassidy   Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport
Race 3   Alex Lynn Giles Motorsport
2 Race 1   Timaru International Motor Raceway, Timaru   Mitch Evans   Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport   Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport
Race 2   Mitch Evans   Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport
Race 3   Jamie McNee ETEC Motorsport
3 Race 1   Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Waikato   Nick Foster   Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport   Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport
Race 2   Jamie McNee ETEC Motorsport
Race 3   Nick Foster   Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport
4 Race 1   Manfeild Autocourse, Feilding   Daniil Kvyat   Daniil Kvyat Victory Motor Racing   Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport
Race 2   Ivan Lukashevich M2 Competition
Race 3   Mitch Evans   Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport
5 Race 1   Taupo Motorsport Park, Taupō   Mitch Evans   Nick Cassidy Giles Motorsport   Nick Cassidy Giles Motorsport
Race 2   Mitch Evans   Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport
Race 3   Nick Cassidy Giles Motorsport

Championship standings edit

Scoring system edit

Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th
Points 75 67 60 54 49 45 42 39 36 33 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Drivers' Championship edit

Pos Driver TER TIM HMP MAN TAU Points
1   Mitch Evans 2 1 3 1 1 3 1 2 1 2 2 1 Ret 1 3 973
2   Nick Cassidy R 9 2 8 5 2 4 3 3 3 11 6 8 1 5 1 805
3   Jamie McNee 6 10 11 12 6 1 5 1 6 13 7 12 6 2 7 675
4   Scott Pye 1 4 5 3 4 7 11 9 4 3 4 3 628
5   Daniil Kvyat R 3 Ret 6 13 7 5 2 7 2 1 3 2 600
6   Alastair Wootten 11 7 7 8 9 6 8 10 7 7 15 Ret 3 6 2 584
7   Ivan Lukashevich 8 8 9 6 5 2 10 12 10 6 1 7 531
8   Damon Leitch R Ret 3 4 11 8 Ret 6 5 14 8 8 Ret 4 8 6 517
9   Alex Lynn 4 6 1 2 3 10 4 4 Ret 9 9 Ret 514
10   Nick Foster R 5 9 Ret 7 10 Ret Ret 13 13 5 14 5 2 3 5 510
11   Jordan Skinner R 10 Ret 12 9 11 9 12 Ret 11 10 Ret 10 7 7 8 410
12   Mario Farnbacher R Ret 5 2 4 Ret Ret 13 11 8 4 10 6 397
13   Josh Hill R Ret 12 10 Ret 13 8 9 8 9 12 5 4 368
14   Kotaro Sakurai R 7 11 13 10 12 Ret 14 14 12 14 11 9 325
15   Earl Bamber 7 6 5 Ret 12 Ret 164
16   Jono Lester 5 4 4 157
17   Ken Smith 15 13 11 78
Pos Driver TER TIM HMP MAN TAU Points
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
R – Rookie

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "2011 Toyota Racing Series Competitor List" (PDF). toyotaracing.co.nz. Toyota Racing Management. 21 December 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
  2. ^ Martinez, Peter (11 February 2011). "Earl Bamber rusty for NZ Grand Prix defence". Stuff. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
  3. ^ "Bamber late entry for Toyota series". The New Zealand Herald. APN News & Media. New Zealand Press Association. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  4. ^ "Lester to make Toyota Racing Series debut at Taupo". toyotaracing.co.nz. Toyota Racing Management. 11 March 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  5. ^ "Toyota Racing Series – 2011" (PDF). toyotaracing.co.nz. 17 February 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2011.

External links edit