Here comes the first junior racing series of the year, the expected New-Zealander category, Toyota Racing Series which will take place in the next five weeks.
Through the years, the number of drivers engaged in the series reduced: from 24 drivers in 2013 to 19 this year.
What is Toyota Racing Series?
Some of you might know this category. Toyota Racing Series is a winter championship known to be a platform of preparation for young drivers to get ready for their season in single-seaters. This category coasts around 70.000 NZ $ which makes it to 42.000 € for the five weeks of competition.
The chassis is from Tatuus with brakes and tires from Formula 3 (Michelin) and a 215 horse-powered engine, 1.8L and 4 cylinders. The car is six seconds faster than Formula Ford which is slightly below Formula 4 in terms of capacities.
This year, they will be fourteen drivers trying to claim the championship, but as in every competition, there are favorites for the title:
M2 Competition:
Let’s start with the reigning champion team, M2 Competition which appears as the favorite team for the championship. And it is not a surprise that their six drivers have a high level in motorsport and two of them are returning to the series which puts them as favorites for the championship.
These two drivers are Pedro Piquet and Artem Markelov. Piquet started the series in 2014 and comes back as one of the main challenger for the title. But shall we not forget about the GP2 driver Artem Markelov who must not repeat the unnecessary mistake he did last year.
They also have the reigning BRDC F4 champion Lando Norris and the one who will be his future teammate Josef Kaufmann Racing in 2016 in Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and Force India protégé: Jehan Daruvala.
The team also has Ferrari’s protégé Guan Yu Zhou and the Formula 4 driver Kami Laliberte, even if they are not expected to have a decisive role in the championship this year
Giles Motorsport
The other team with six drivers is Giles Motorsport. They may not be very high leveled but they have Ferdinand Habsburg and James Munro who both had already raced in the series, who know the tracks and therefore, they are considered as the main drivers of the team.
Giles Motorsport also has in its ranks Canadian Devlin DeFrancesco – who will race in MSA Formula – paired with Pro Mazda drivers Nicolas Dapero and Will Owen and finally with Polish Antoni Ptak – Euroformula open driver.
ETEC Motorsport
The fight for the championship appears to be the thing between the two teams evoked previously, but ETEC Motorsport has four drivers in their ranks. Taylor Cockerton, champion of NZ Formula Ford, Pro Mazda driver Timothé Buret, Rodrigo Baptista – Brazilian Formula 3 driver; and the oldest driver of the grid, 23 year old Theo Bean.
Victory Motor Racing:
The last team to confirm its engagement is Victory Motor Racing and their driver with the most potential is Brendon Leitch who could only create surprise if he fights for the championship.
He is paired with Formula Renault 2.0 Bruno Baptista, Rodrigo Baptista’s cousin, and single seater rookie Julian Hanses.
Calendar:
There is no change in the tracks of the championship and it will start, as always, at Rapuna Park on January 16-17th. Then they will go to Teretonga and then to Hampton Downs. In Februrary, Taupo and Manfield will be crucial rounds for the championship with three races per week-end.
The starting order of the first race is decided from qualifying session, such as for race three. Race two order will be decided with a reverse grid from race 1 results as in GP2.
Points system
The system is quite different from what we are used to see as all drivers get points even if they retire. There is no additional point for pole position or fastest lap. The championship happens during races at 100%.
| Pos | Puntos | Pos | Puntos |
| 1 | 75 | 11 | 30 |
| 2 | 67 | 12 | 28 |
| 3 | 60 | 13 | 26 |
| 4 | 54 | 14 | 24 |
| 5 | 49 | 15 | 22 |
| 6 | 45 | 16 | 20 |
| 7 | 42 | 17 | 18 |
| 8 | 39 | 18 | 16 |
| 9 | 36 | 19 | 14 |
| 10 | 33 | 20 | 12 |
This year, experience will be the key of the championship such as aggressiveness on track and qualifying skills. Of Piquet, Markelov, Norris, Daruvala, Munro, Leitchand or Habsburg, who will win the championship? Results in mid-February.