The Toyota Racing Series returned to Hampton Downs on Saturday to support the Rally of New Zealand event which featured 2 special stages of the rally plus racing by several categories including a brief demonstration of TRS, F5000 and Formula Atlantic cars.

At mid-afternoon four of the current TRS drivers took to the track – 2010 Series Champion Mitch Evans, Alastair Wootten, Andrew Waite and Daniel Jilesen and they were joined by the TRS 2 seater driven by Sam MacNeill , the F5000 of Ken Smith and Formula Atlantic driven by Andrew Higgins to showcase New Zealand’s single seater history over the past 30 years.

“It was an opportunity to show a different audience what TRS is all about,” said Barrie Thomlinson. “The crowd was estimated to be over 20,000 and there appeared to be a good mix of rally enthusiasts as well as family groups. It certainly showed the potential for Hampton Downs to draw a big crowd for a well promoted event.”

“Our race at Hampton Downs in early February was the first FIA International single seater race at the new track and this proved how good our cars perform at this fantastic facility. Hampton Downs will continue to play a big part in the long term development of TRS so we were pleased to be invited for this demonstration in front of the World Rally Championship teams, drivers and overseas media. Congratulations to the Rally management team, they showed innovation in their planning and promotion of the event.”

Follow the link below to view images from Saturday’s event…

http://www.toyotaracing.co.nz/multimedia