Defending champion has eyes on TRS and NZ Grand Prix titles again
Defending New Zealand Grand Prix and Toyota Racing Series champion Liam Lawson will be hoping to hold off hard charging Brazilian Igor Fraga this weekend to take home both prizes again.
The New Zealand Grand Prix at Manfeild is one of only two Grand Prix run outside of Formula One. The other is Macau, and is the first GP meeting on the FIA international motorsport calendar.
There have been some illustrious past New Zealand GP winners: Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, John Surtees, Bruce McLaren, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Chris Amon, Keke Rosberg and Roberto Moreno.
The Grand Prix has been an integral part of the TRS since 2006 and is one of the biggest prizes for those drivers contesting the championship. The meeting is also the last round of the TRS season.
Youngsters Lawson and Fraga have been the most consistent drivers the past four race weekends, with Lawson holding a slender eightpoint lead over the Brazilian, with Argentinian Franco Colapinto a further 31 points back.
On the other side of the age coin, supervet 78-year-old Kenny Smith is belting up for his 49th NZGP. He has three Grand Prix titles to his name, having won in 1976, 1990 and 2004, and has gone wheel-to-wheel with the best in the world, including McLaren, Hill, Moss, Denny Hulme, Stewart, Amon and Moreno.
“It’s good to get out there and we’re not doing too bad,” said Smith. “I’ve only had 40 laps in the new car and we’ve done pretty well. It’s hard work, I can tell you that. It’s a hard car to drive.
“I’m getting better and the car’s getting easier and Toyota have been great in helping out with the car, so no complaints.”
Smith is well known in racing circles for mentoring the likes of Scott Dixon, Brendon Hartley, Shane van Gisbergen and lately Tom Alexander. In an interesting twist, a former NZGP winner, Brazilian Moreno, is at Manfeild this weekend mentoring protege Igor Fraga.
After his NZGP win in 1982, Moreno went on to contest 75 Formula One Grand Prix, CART and IndyCar races. He has fond memories
I’ve only had 40 laps in the new car and we’ve done pretty well. It’s hard work, I can tell you that. It’s a hard car to drive. Kenny Smith
of his time in New Zealand, especially about how he managed to stay racing here when he ran out of money.
“I came to New Zealand in 1982 to do one race and stayed for four. It was a fantastic time and I raced here at Pukekohe in the Grand Prix,” said Moreno.
“The track was challenging but I had a good time, and any time you win is a good time.
“It all started when a good friend of mine Peewee [Greg Siddle] was asked by Bob Jane to bring Nelson Piquet to Australia. Somehow he found a way to get me to race in Australia as well.
“I set pole and won the race and afterwards, Alan Jones decided not to race any more, and so I went to race in Macau instead of Alan. Peewee then decided since we’ve got the car, we may as well head to New Zealand to do one race.
“We only had enough money to do one race at Bay Park, which I won. We then found a sponsor to do the rest of the season in New Zealand [four weekends]. While we had money to race, we had none for living expenses or travel.
“Kenny came to me and said he had some good race horses that were 90 per cent positive to win some races. So I said let’s borrow some money and invest in them. I managed to borrow $500 from some friends and I think won something like $5000 on the race.
“We won two more times until Kenny decided to bet on a horse with a trolley at the back [trotting] and we lost. I said ‘Kenny, that’s enough’ and so we stopped.
“We now had enough money to pay for the whole team to stay in New Zealand. We had a great time and it was fantastic. The people here are so friendly. Wherever we went, we had a really good time.”
Smith remembers Moreno well and reckons it was one of his more interesting times in motorsport. It was typical of that time in the 1980s when everyone mucked in to help a fellow racer, but this story is a particular doozy.
“I remember Roberto very well and having caught up with him again, he’s still exactly the same as he was back then — a real nice, genuine guy.
“I found out he was running out of money at the time and I had a few race horses with my father. We [Moreno and Smith] started doing a bit of punting and he ended up with enough money to see him through and get home, which was good.
“We had quite a bit of success back then. One horse won 17 times, including three races in Australia,” he said.
A lot more horse power will be on display this weekend at the final round of the TRS over the three races, with the big one, the 35-lap NZGP, being the race everyone wants to win.