• Top six reverse grid sets up flag to flag win for  Waite
• Evans makes sure of third and sets new lap record
• Pentus, Stanaway tangle mid-race

“That was fantastic! Nobody can take this away from me”: Auckland racer Andrew Waite was jubilant after his flag to flag win in the second competition outing for the Toyota Racing Series at Hampton Downs race circuit this morning.

With the top six grid placings reversed for the race, Waite found himself on pole with Estonian Sten Pentus alongside.

On the second row were Waite’s ETEC Motorsport team mate Richie Stanaway and Wanganui driver Earl Bamber, racing for Triple X Motorsport.  Brazilian 17 year old Lucas Foresti lined up on the third row alongside championship leader Mitch Evans.

At race start, Waite defended pole from a charging Pentus, the Estonian going through the first corner alongside Waite and challenging along the back straight.  By the time the cars had cleared the third corner, Waite was ahead.

At the end of the lap the order was Waite, Pentus, Stanaway and Bamber – the latter poised to take advantage of any slip by the first three as he had done so effectively in race one on Saturday.

Close behind Bamber was championship leader Mitch Evans, also watching for a chance to improve his position.

Pentus was watching Waite’s TyrePlus car draw away, and on the second lap, Waite’s team-mate Richie Stanaway attacked, pulling alongside Pentus into a tight left hand corner.  The two cars touched, Stanaway’s emerging with a bent front end that would plague him till the end of the race.

Behind him, Pentus was determined to regain his track position, but made contact with the Stanaway car’s rear tyre.  Pentus lost his front wing in the incident, but carried on.

With Stanaway and Pentus locked in battle, Earl Bamber seized his chance and overtook Pentus.  A lap later he went past Stanaway, who was finding his car unstable due to the damage to its steering.

Stanaway struggled on, at one stage slipping off the track and onto the grass but managing to regain position in front of Pentus.   Evans slipped past to hold third in a clean overtaking move Stanaway was unable to contest.

Stefan Webling  and Daniel Jileson spun together on lap five, both rejoining with their cars undamaged.

On lap eight the Estonian gave up the unequal struggle as cars continued to stream past, pitting to fit a new nose cone and wing to restore the car’s aerodynamic efficiency before rejoining.

In the closing laps, Stanaway was also overtaken by young Jamie McNee and Lucas Foresti, with Foresti pulling clear to be fourth behind Mitch Evans.

Bamber, meanwhile, had been chasing Waite, but found he was unable to make much impression on the massive lead Waite had built up while the on-track dramas played out behind him.  The pair were in turn almost seven seconds ahead of Evans in third.

Alistair Wootton had been closing up on Stanaway, but spun while trying to overtake and rejoined four places down.

He found himself on the tail end of a mid-field battle between Ken Smith, Andy Knight and Daniel Jilesen and was unable to do much more than follow the group to the end of the race.  Knight’s car had a broken exhaust, robbing it of power and he had also lost part of his front wing in contact with another car but opted to continue to the race end.

The finish order was an elated Waite, then Bamber, Mitch Evans third and Lucas Foresti fourth.

Evans retains the championship lead and has re-set the Toyota Racing Series – and outright – lap record at Hampton Downs with a 1:01.846, set on lap 12  with a best speed of 153.090 km/h.

The Toyota Racing Series returns to the track at Hampton Downs’ first international race meeting this weekend for the feature race, the 20 lap New Zealand Motor Cup event which starts at 3.30 pm.

In addition to the valuable International Series points and the championship points race, there are bragging rights up for grabs: with the category making its Hampton Downs debut, a new TRS race lap record will be set this weekend.  The racer who beats Mitch Evans’ time and is quickest in the category may also set an outright record for the circuit in the process.

-End-

7 February 2010.

Toyota Racing Series Race One

Andrew Waite, Auckland, 1
Earl Bamber, Wanganui, 2
Mitch Evans, Auckland, 3
Lucas Foresti, Brazil, 4
Jamie McNee, Wellington, 5
Richie Stanaway, Tauranga, 6
Ken Smith, Auckland, 7
Andy Knight, Christchurch, 8
Daniel Jilesen, Taumarunui, 9
Alistair Wootten, Auckland, 10
Sten Pentus, Estonia, 11
Stefan Webling, Oakura, 12

Championship points

Mitch Evans 509
Earl Bamber 479
Sten Pentus 458
Lucas Foresti 431
Andrew Waite 421
Daniel Jileson 369
Alistair Wootten 326
Stefan Webling 307
Nathan Morcom 219
Jamie McNee 218
Richie Stanaway 99
Ken Smith 78
Chris Wootton 66
Andy Knight 39 

Note to journalists: History of the NZ Motor Cup

The New Zealand Motor Cup was donated by the Auckland Automobile Association to mark what are regarded as the first organised motor races in New Zealand in 1921 were held. 

Muriwai Beach, north of Auckland, was chosen for the New Zealand Motor Cup Race.  In those days beaches were still regarded as the most suitable venues for motor racing.

The inaugural event was simply a 25-mile dash along the beach which the winner – Howard Nattrass driving a Caddilac – covered in 17 minutes at an average speed of 88 m.p.h.

The distance was doubled in 1922 and the race was made up of four 12½-mile laps. 

It became an annual event and touring cars gave way to more specialised machines, though the most successful car of the twenties was an American Stutz in which Bob Wilson won the 1926, 1927, and 1928 events to become the outright winner of the trophy. Beaches continued to provide the main circuits for motor racing until 1949.

The first Grand Prix for the New Zealand Motor Cup, donated by Bob Wilson, of Stutz fame, and a prize of £1,000 was held at Ardmore (near Auckland) on a 2.1-mile airfield circuit. The race attracted overseas entries, including the famous 16-cylinder 1½-litre BRM. This race was won by Stan Jones, of Australia, driving a German-Australian hybrid, the Maybach Special.

Issued by Mark Baker on behalf of Toyota Racing Series. 

For more information please contact:

Series Manager Barrie Thomlinson                                                          

09 270 2759                                                                                                        

barrie.thomlinson@toyotaracing.co.nz                                                 

Murray Taylor
09 445 0209
027 2947930

murray.taylor@xtra.co.nz

Mark Baker
021 2120607
mark.baker@ihug.co.nz