Armstrong aims for TRS title
Marcus Armstrong will be home for Christmas and has confirmed he will tackle the 2018 Toyota Racing Series aiming to win the title.
It’s been a huge year for the European-based Canterbury teenager, winning the Italian Formula 4 Championship and finishing runner up in the German F4 series. Currently in the midst of winter testing for his 2018 European campaign, Armstrong says he will be taking a more strategic approach to the 2018 title chase, not just looking for wins but taking podiums and banking points in every race.
Consistency has always been the key to winning the five round series that has always proven to be great preparation for the Northern Hemisphere racing season.
Last Highlands’ fling for Australian GTs
This weekend sees the last time the Australian GT cars will be in action at the Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell. Ongoing management problems have seen dwindling fields in Australia and a deal for Supercars to take over the management of Australian GT has failed to receive approval from the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) due to commercial reasons. Nevertheless, this weekend’s action has the potential for some great racing with two Australianbased Cantabrians set to wrap up the Australian Endurance Championship at the Highlands 501 meeting.
Tim Miles and Jaxon Evans go into the final round at Highlands with a comfortable lead over their nearest rivals, requiring them to finish fourth or higher in order to secure the title. Both Miles and Evans originate from Ashburton. Miles, a successful businessman in Sydney, has a long history in New Zealand motorsport while Gold Coast based 21-year-old Evans is an exciting young talent in Australia.
Big entry for opening WOW A record number of entries have been received by organisers for Saturday night’s War of the Wings Sprintcar round to be held at Ruapuna Speedway with 30 drivers slated to appear.
Numbers are at an all-time high in the South Island for the popular winged V8 class and there is no doubt that the $100,000 prize and travel pool has plenty to do with that. Last season’s series winner Jamie Duff again is expected to feature however Te Anau’s Daniel Anderson was a convincing winner at Ruapuna last Saturday night going through his two heats and the feature races unbeaten. Rookie may prove winner
A 13-year-old Auckland school student will make his NZ F1600 Championship debut on Saturday in Timaru and may prove very ‘quick out of the blocks’.
Callum Hedge will drive last season’s winning Mygale car, previously driven by Pukekohe teenager Liam Lawson. He comes with a wealth of kartsport experience and is the current Junior Rotax and Junior Yamaha national champion. Also doubling as the second round of the South Island F1600 champs, a number of rookies made an impact in the opening round at Ruapuna a fortnight ago.
Christchurch driver Bailey Paterson won the opening race and in the remaining two races finished runner up to the more experienced Jordan Michels. Also quick was Josh Bethune from Auckland who qualified second behind Michels. Drivers and teams will face qualifying and three races at Levels.