M2 Competition’s Marcus Armstrong ‘s Race 1 was the only action seen at Teretonga after poor weather conditions forced Toyota Racing Series organisers to re-schedule races.
The win on Saturday in Race 1 for Armstrong meant the Kiwi is tied on points now with teammate Liam Lawson at 113, after poor weather conditions at Teretonga on Sunday forced the organisers to re-schedule the races.
Lawson started Round 2 on a sound note as he claimed pole for Race 1 on Saturday. However, a better start for Marcus Armstrong from the front-row helped the Kiwi take charge with Lawson dropping to third behind teammate Artem Petrov.
The Kiwi though made a quick work of Artem Petrov and set his chase for Marcus Armstrong. A safety car period to recover MTEC Motorsport’s Petru Florescu’s car brought them ever closer on a drying track but Marcus Armstrong held on to score his first win of the 2019 season.
Behind the Top 2, the fight for third place went on long between Artem Petrov and Giles Motorsport’s Raoul Hyman – the latter climbing up from 11th to fourth. The two tussled for the final spot on the podium but a mistake from Hyman allowed Petrov to keep the place.
The South African lost out as he dropped back to finish 11th with M2 Competition’s Cameron Das taking fourth ahead of Red Bull junior Lucas Auer – who struggled for grip – and MTEC Motorsport’s Kazuto Kotaka.
The Top 10 was then rounded out by MTEC Motorsport’s Calan Williams, Victory Motor Racing’s Brendon Leitch, M2 Competition’s Esteban Muth and Giles Motorsport’s Dev Gore. Position 11-15: Hyman, Petr Ptacek, Jackson Walls, Thomas Smith & Parker Locke.
Hampton Downs will host one of the Sunday’s race with the other at Taupo. “Our conclusion is that the predicted wind speeds and gusts combined with the high speed nature of the coastal track could compromise the downforce of the 500kg machines and potentially put driver safety and the safety of others at an enhanced and unacceptable level of risk.
“It’s a shame and we have considered the situation carefully for fans and drivers, but safety comes first and we have reluctantly decided to cancel our qualifying and racing today,” said TRS category manager, Nicolas Caillol.
[Read: Round 1 recap]
