TRS graduates win in Russia and Japan
Brendon Hartley (Palmerston North) has taken a one point lead in the FIA World Endurance Championship after winning the latest round at the Mt Fuji track in Japan. Richie Stanaway (Tauranga) claims a win in the second race of the GP2 series which supported the Russian Formula One Grand Prix at Sochi.
Both drivers are graduates of the annual Toyota Racing Series, New Zealand’s premier single-seater category which attracts drivers from across the globe.
Hartley and his team mates Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard only took the lead in their Porsche 919 Hybrid eight minutes from the end of the six hour race, when the other Porsche driven by Neel Jani slowed to let them take the maximum points possible in the battle for the championship.
Hartley and his fellow drivers only have a one point lead over Andre Lotterer, Bruno Treluyer and Michel Fassler who were gifted the final podium place by the other Audi to get as many points as possible. There are two rounds left in the series.
Stanaway, starting from second place on the grid led all the way in the GP2 sprint race at Sochi, having finished seventh in the longer first event.
Mitch Evans (Auckland) was eighth in the sprint race and 11th in the main race. Evans lies sixth in the series with two rounds left, while Stanaway is ninth. There are two more rounds in the GP2 series.
Both drivers have been invited to an end of season test session involving all three main manufacturers in the WEC – Toyota, Porsche and Audi – as a result of their performances at the Le Mans 24 hours race in June, where Evans finished 10th and second in the LMP2 class and Stanaway was the stand out driver in LMGT class in a works Aston Martin.
This summer’s Toyota Racing Series Championship starts at Ruapuna Park near Christchurch on January 16 and 17 and concludes with the New Zealand Grand Prix meeting at Manfeild on February 13 and 14.