Toyota has made a long term commitment to support this major series which began in 2005 and has now completed three seasons.
The Toyota Racing Series has National Championship and Premier Gold Star racing status with premier events, such as the New Zealand Grand Prix and the Lady Wigram Trophy / Cup.
Barrie Thomlinson, category manager for the Toyota Racing Series says “since its introduction the new TRS class has already given a huge boost to single seater racing in New Zealand providing many local and international racers the opportunity to springboard into the International racing circuit”.
“It is particularly rewarding to see some of these young drivers progress in their careers knowing we have had some part to play in their success. At just 15 years of age Brendon Hartley from Palmerston North won the very first TRS race at Timaru in 2005. His performance secured him a test with the Red Bull Junior Driver Development squad, and he won leading the European Formula Renault Championship in his first season”.
Mr Thomlinson believes New Zealand’s southern hemisphere location has provided many international drivers the opportunity to race in their off season.
“Our fields are very competitive and our local talent pool is deep. This and the relevance of this formula to European formula has drawn drivers from all over the world; countries represented include Australia, USA, Britain, Italy, Bahrain, Ireland, Hong Kong, and Denmark”. |
New Zealand has a proud history of producing top single seater drivers, from our trio of Formula One drivers: Chris Amon, Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme in the 60s and 70s, to current day stars Scott Dixon, Jonny Reid and Matt Halliday competing in IRL and A1GP.
Barrie Thomlinson says, “We have seen several of our young drivers join the series from junior categories and show their talent in the more powerful and technically challenging TRS cars”.
In addition to Brendon Hartley, we can also boast some young emerging stars; Chris van der Drift, Earl Bamber and Wade Cunningham have all raced in the Toyota Racing Series and are now winning races internationally.
Moving into the fifth season, an exciting development for TRS has been the introduction of our 85% ethanol blend fuel - an output of the dairy industry and a sustainable energy source since the 2007-2009 series. Ethanol fuel has given power and torque improvements and increased performance throughout the power range, while delivering overall environmental benefits.
By utilising lightweight componentary and the latest developments in aerodynamics and chassis design the TRS cars are faster around the race circuit than the Super V8 series, but they use a fraction of the fuel that V8s use.
Add to this the use of 85% ethanol biofuel and TRS is arguably the most sustainable motorsport on the planet.
Toyota has reduced the total footprint of the series by using E85 to offset carbon emissions from the series in 2008, and will again for 2009.
Chris Amon – ex Formula One driver supports the move to E85 and says he can see Toyota leading the way.
Official website : www.toyotaracing.co.nz |