2017 Toyota Racing Series

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.

2017 Toyota Racing Series
Previous: 2016 Next: 2018

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 Brendon Leitch All
49 Thomas Randle[3] All
51 Shelby Blackstock R All
80 Nikita Lastochkin R All
M2 Competition 5 Pedro Piquet All
8 Marcus Armstrong R All
9 Jehan Daruvala All
27 Jean Baptiste Simmenauer[4] R All
62 Ferdinand Habsburg[5] All
83 Kami Laliberté[6] All
MTEC Motorsport 10 Thomas Neubauer[7] R All
11 Taylor Cockerton[8] All
24 Ameya Vaidyanathan[9] R All
33 Kory Enders R All
Giles Motorsport 12 Christian Hahn R All
22 Richard Verschoor[10] R All
26 Harry Hayek R All
47 Keyvan Andres Soori R All
65 Enaam Ahmed[11] R All
96 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 Jehan Daruvala Richard Verschoor Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition Richard Verschoor Report
R2 15 January Taylor Cockerton Thomas Randle Victory Motor Racing
R3 Jehan Daruvala Jehan Daruvala Jehan Daruvala M2 Competition
2 R1 21 January Teretonga Park, Invercargill Thomas Randle Thomas Randle Richard Verschoor Giles Motorsport Richard Verschoor Report
R2 22 January Thomas Randle Pedro Piquet M2 Competition
R3 Brendon Leitch Richard Verschoor Richard Verschoor Giles Motorsport
3 R1 28 January Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Waikato Thomas Randle Thomas Randle Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition Pedro Piquet Report
R2 29 January Enaam Ahmed Enaam Ahmed Giles Motorsport
R3 Thomas Randle Thomas Randle Thomas Randle Victory Motor Racing
4 R1 4 February Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupo Marcus Armstrong Brendon Leitch Brendon Leitch Victory Motor Racing Marcus Armstrong Report
R2 5 February Taylor Cockerton Pedro Piquet M2 Competition
R3 Jehan Daruvala Jehan Daruvala Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition
5 R1 11 February Circuit Chris Amon, Feilding Jehan Daruvala Thomas Randle Pedro Piquet M2 Competition Marcus Armstrong Report
R2 12 February Thomas Randle Richard Verschoor Giles Motorsport
R3 Jehan Daruvala Thomas Randle 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 Thomas Randle 4 1 5 7 3 3 3 7 1 4 2 4 5 4 3 855
2 Pedro Piquet 6 17 3 3 1 5 2 3 4 5 1 5 1 3 4 850
3 Richard Verschoor 3 2 4 1 2 1 4 2 16 8 6 7 4 1 5 843
4 Marcus Armstrong 1 3 Ret 11 4 4 1 4 Ret 2 4 1 3 2 2 792
5 Jehan Daruvala 2 Ret 1 9 7 2 14 8 3 3 3 2 2 7 1 781
6 Enaam Ahmed 8 12 2 5 Ret 8 5 1 9 7 7 11 6 Ret 6 586
7 Taylor Cockerton 5 4 11 6 5 9 8 9 6 Ret 15 6 7 6 10 574
8 Ferdinand Habsburg 7 5 6 4 Ret 18 9 10 2 18 16 3 8 5 7 552
9 Brendon Leitch 9 6 7 2 Ret 7 12 15 17 1 5 8 Ret 8 Ret 502
10 Kami Laliberté 10 8 10 12 6 6 7 6 15 6 11 9 13 Ret 13 498
11 Keyvan Andres Soori 12 10 Ret 10 8 17 10 12 12 10 10 13 18 10 8 423
12 Shelby Blackstock 11 7 15 14 12 12 11 13 11 14 14 17 10 11 12 421
13 Luis Leeds 15 11 13 16 10 14 13 19 5 9 8 12 9 9 Ret 419
14 Christian Hahn 17 16 8 8 9 10 18 18 8 15 12 15 11 16 Ret 372
15 Harry Hayek 14 9 12 13 16 15 15 11 7 13 Ret 10 Ret 17 9 363
16 Ameya Vaidyanathan 13 14 Ret 15 11 19 6 5 Ret 12 17 14 14 14 11 358
17 Thomas Neubauer 16 18 14 20 13 13 Ret 14 13 11 9 18 16 15 14 308
18 Nikita Lastochkin Ret 15 Ret 17 14 11 Ret Ret 10 16 13 16 17 12 16 263
19 Jean Baptiste Simmenauer 18 19 Ret 19 15 16 17 16 14 17 Ret 19 15 13 17 248
20 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
Silver2nd place
Bronze3rd 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 participate (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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