The 2017 Castrol Toyota Racing Series was the thirteenth running of the Toyota Racing Series, the premier open-wheel motorsport category held in New Zealand. The series consisted of fifteen races at five meetings. It began on 14 January at Ruapuna Park in Christchurch, and concluded on 12 February with the 62nd running of the New Zealand Grand Prix, at Circuit Chris Amon in Feilding. Lando Norris was the defending drivers' champion but decided not to compete, concentrating on his European Formula Three campaign, whilst M2 Competition were the defending teams champions.

Thomas Randle became the first Australian to win the Toyota Racing Series when he clinched the title by five points over Pedro Piquet. In third place overall and the best-placed rookie was Red Bull Junior driver, Richard Verschoor, who led most of the championship through strong, consistent performances. The best-placed Kiwi would be rookie and Ferrari Driver Academy driver, Marcus Armstrong; beating out his other countrymen - Taylor Cockerton and Brendon Leitch.

Teams and drivers

A new team, MTEC Motorsport made their debut this season.[1] In December 2016, the grid was finalized as follows:[2]

Team No. Driver Status Rounds
Victory Motor Racing 3 New Zealand Brendon Leitch All
49 Australia Thomas Randle[3] All
51 United States Shelby Blackstock R All
80 Russia Nikita Lastochkin R All
M2 Competition 5 Brazil Pedro Piquet All
8 New Zealand Marcus Armstrong R All
9 India Jehan Daruvala All
27 France Jean Baptiste Simmenauer[4] R All
62 Austria Ferdinand Habsburg[5] All
83 Canada Kami Laliberté[6] All
MTEC Motorsport 10 France Thomas Neubauer[7] R All
11 New Zealand Taylor Cockerton[8] All
24 India Ameya Vaidyanathan[9] R All
33 United States Kory Enders R All
Giles Motorsport 12 Brazil Christian Hahn R All
22 Netherlands Richard Verschoor[10] R All
26 Australia Harry Hayek R All
47 Germany Keyvan Andres Soori R All
65 United Kingdom Enaam Ahmed[11] R All
96 Australia Luis Leeds[12] R All

Race calendar and results

The calendar for the series was announced on 12 July 2016, and was held over five successive weekends in January and February.[13]

Round Date Circuit Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Round winner(s) Report
1 R1 14 January Mike Pero Motorsport Park, Christchurch India Jehan Daruvala Netherlands Richard Verschoor New Zealand Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition Netherlands Richard Verschoor Report
R2 15 January New Zealand Taylor Cockerton Australia Thomas Randle Victory Motor Racing
R3 India Jehan Daruvala India Jehan Daruvala India Jehan Daruvala M2 Competition
2 R1 21 January Teretonga Park, Invercargill Australia Thomas Randle Australia Thomas Randle Netherlands Richard Verschoor Giles Motorsport Netherlands Richard Verschoor Report
R2 22 January Australia Thomas Randle Brazil Pedro Piquet M2 Competition
R3 New Zealand Brendon Leitch Netherlands Richard Verschoor Netherlands Richard Verschoor Giles Motorsport
3 R1 28 January Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Waikato Australia Thomas Randle Australia Thomas Randle New Zealand Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition Brazil Pedro Piquet Report
R2 29 January United Kingdom Enaam Ahmed United Kingdom Enaam Ahmed Giles Motorsport
R3 Australia Thomas Randle Australia Thomas Randle Australia Thomas Randle Victory Motor Racing
4 R1 4 February Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupō New Zealand Marcus Armstrong New Zealand Brendon Leitch New Zealand Brendon Leitch Victory Motor Racing New Zealand Marcus Armstrong Report
R2 5 February New Zealand Taylor Cockerton Brazil Pedro Piquet M2 Competition
R3 India Jehan Daruvala India Jehan Daruvala New Zealand Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition
5 R1 11 February Circuit Chris Amon, Feilding India Jehan Daruvala Australia Thomas Randle Brazil Pedro Piquet M2 Competition New Zealand Marcus Armstrong Report
R2 12 February Australia Thomas Randle Netherlands Richard Verschoor Giles Motorsport
R3 India Jehan Daruvala Australia Thomas Randle India Jehan Daruvala M2 Competition

Championship standings

In order for a driver to score championship points, they have to complete at least 75% of the race winner's distance, and be running at the race's completion. All races counted towards the final championship standings.

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

Drivers' championship

Pos. Driver RUA TER HMP TAU MAN Points
1 Australia Thomas Randle 4 1 5 7 3 3 3 7 1 4 2 4 5 4 3 855
2 Brazil Pedro Piquet 6 17 3 3 1 5 2 3 4 5 1 5 1 3 4 850
3 Netherlands Richard Verschoor 3 2 4 1 2 1 4 2 16 8 6 7 4 1 5 843
4 New Zealand Marcus Armstrong 1 3 Ret 11 4 4 1 4 Ret 2 4 1 3 2 2 792
5 India Jehan Daruvala 2 Ret 1 9 7 2 14 8 3 3 3 2 2 7 1 781
6 United Kingdom Enaam Ahmed 8 12 2 5 Ret 8 5 1 9 7 7 11 6 Ret 6 586
7 New Zealand Taylor Cockerton 5 4 11 6 5 9 8 9 6 Ret 15 6 7 6 10 574
8 Austria Ferdinand Habsburg 7 5 6 4 Ret 18 9 10 2 18 16 3 8 5 7 552
9 New Zealand Brendon Leitch 9 6 7 2 Ret 7 12 15 17 1 5 8 Ret 8 Ret 502
10 Canada Kami Laliberté 10 8 10 12 6 6 7 6 15 6 11 9 13 Ret 13 498
11 Germany Keyvan Andres Soori 12 10 Ret 10 8 17 10 12 12 10 10 13 18 10 8 423
12 United States Shelby Blackstock 11 7 15 14 12 12 11 13 11 14 14 17 10 11 12 421
13 Australia Luis Leeds 15 11 13 16 10 14 13 19 5 9 8 12 9 9 Ret 419
14 Brazil Christian Hahn 17 16 8 8 9 10 18 18 8 15 12 15 11 16 Ret 372
15 Australia Harry Hayek 14 9 12 13 16 15 15 11 7 13 Ret 10 Ret 17 9 363
16 India Ameya Vaidyanathan 13 14 Ret 15 11 19 6 5 Ret 12 17 14 14 14 11 358
17 France Thomas Neubauer 16 18 14 20 13 13 Ret 14 13 11 9 18 16 15 14 308
18 Russia Nikita Lastochkin Ret 15 Ret 17 14 11 Ret Ret 10 16 13 16 17 12 16 263
19 France Jean Baptiste Simmenauer 18 19 Ret 19 15 16 17 16 14 17 Ret 19 15 13 17 248
20 United States Kory Enders 19 13 9 18 Ret 20 16 17 Ret Ret Ret Ret 12 Ret 15 192
Pos. Driver RUA TER HMP TAU MAN Points
ColourResult
GoldWinner
SilverSecond place
BronzeThird place
GreenPoints finish
BlueNon-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
PurpleRetired (Ret)
RedDid not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
BlackDisqualified (DSQ)
WhiteDid not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap

Rookie

References

  1. ↑ "New Australasian team to challenge in Toyota Racing Series". Toyota New Zealand. 24 June 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  2. ↑ "Field set for 2017 Toyota Racing Series". 30 December 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "Trio of Kiwis to battle strong international line-up in TRS". 19 December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  4. ↑ "French karting champion takes place of defending champion Lando Norris in TRS". 23 December 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  5. ↑ "Habsburg joins Carlin for step up to European F3". 7 December 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2016. Habsburg will contest the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand for a third straight year next month, and will switch to top team M2 Competition after coming fourth in the 2016 standings with Giles Motorsport.
  6. ↑ "Trio of Kiwis to battle strong international line-up in TRS". 19 December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  7. ↑ "Trio of Kiwis to battle strong international line-up in TRS". 19 December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  8. ↑ "Cockerton first entry for 2017 Toyota Racing Series". Toyota New Zealand. 10 August 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  9. ↑ "Vaidyanathan joins MTEC for 2017 TRS season". 19 December 2016. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  10. ↑ "Verschoor overwintert in Toyota Racing Series" (in Dutch). Motorsport.com. 12 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  11. ↑ "Motorsport: Talented teen confirmed for Toyota Racing Series". 28 December 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  12. ↑ "16-YEAR-OLD HEADS AUSTRALIAN ASSAULT ON TOYOTA RACING SERIES". 15 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  13. ↑ "Toyota Racing Series — prospects look good". Toyota New Zealand. 12 July 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
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