2017 Toyota Racing Series Explained

The 2017 Castrol Toyota Racing Series was the thirteenth running of the Toyota Racing Series, the premier open-wheel motorsport category held in New Zealand. The series consisted of fifteen races at five meetings. It began on 14 January at Ruapuna Park in Christchurch, and concluded on 12 February with the 62nd running of the New Zealand Grand Prix, at Circuit Chris Amon in Feilding. Lando Norris was the defending drivers' champion but decided not to compete, concentrating on his European Formula Three campaign, whilst M2 Competition were the defending teams champions.

Thomas Randle became the first Australian to win the Toyota Racing Series when he clinched the title by five points over Pedro Piquet. In third place overall and the best-placed rookie was Red Bull Junior driver, Richard Verschoor, who led most of the championship through strong, consistent performances. The best-placed Kiwi would be rookie and Ferrari Driver Academy driver, Marcus Armstrong; beating out his other countrymen - Taylor Cockerton and Brendon Leitch.

Teams and drivers

A new team, MTEC Motorsport made their debut this season.^[1] In December 2016, the grid was finalized as follows:^[2]

Team		Driver	Status	Rounds
Victory Motor Racing	3	Brendon Leitch		All
	49	Thomas Randle^[3]		All
	51	Shelby Blackstock		All
	80	Nikita Lastochkin		All
M2 Competition	5	Pedro Piquet		All
	8	Marcus Armstrong		All
	9	Jehan Daruvala		All
	27	Jean Baptiste Simmenauer^[4]		All
	62	Ferdinand Habsburg^[5]		All
	83	Kami Laliberté^[6]		All
MTEC Motorsport	10	Thomas Neubauer^[7]		All
	11	Taylor Cockerton^[8]		All
	24	Ameya Vaidyanathan^[9]	align=center		All
	33	Kory Enders		All
Giles Motorsport	12	Christian Hahn		All
	22	Richard Verschoor^[10]		All
	26	Harry Hayek		All
	47	Keyvan Andres Soori		All
	65	Enaam Ahmed^[11]		All
	96	Luis Leeds^[12]		All

Race calendar and results

The calendar for the series was announced on 12 July 2016, and was held over five successive weekends in January and February.^[13]

Round		Date	Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team		Report
1	R1	14 January	Mike Pero Motorsport Park, Christchurch	Jehan Daruvala	Richard Verschoor	Marcus Armstrong	M2 Competition	Richard Verschoor	Report
	R2	15 January			Taylor Cockerton	Thomas Randle	Victory Motor Racing
	R3			Jehan Daruvala	Jehan Daruvala	Jehan Daruvala	M2 Competition
2	R1	21 January	Teretonga Park, Invercargill	Thomas Randle	Thomas Randle	Richard Verschoor	Giles Motorsport	Richard Verschoor	Report
	R2	22 January			Thomas Randle	Pedro Piquet	M2 Competition
	R3			Brendon Leitch	Richard Verschoor	Richard Verschoor	Giles Motorsport
3	R1	28 January	Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Waikato	Thomas Randle	Thomas Randle	Marcus Armstrong	M2 Competition	Pedro Piquet	Report
	R2	29 January			Enaam Ahmed	Enaam Ahmed	Giles Motorsport
	R3			Thomas Randle	Thomas Randle	Thomas Randle	Victory Motor Racing
4	R1	4 February	Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupō	Marcus Armstrong	Brendon Leitch	Brendon Leitch	Victory Motor Racing	Marcus Armstrong	Report
	R2	5 February			Taylor Cockerton	Pedro Piquet	M2 Competition
	R3			Jehan Daruvala	Jehan Daruvala	Marcus Armstrong	M2 Competition
5	R1	11 February	Circuit Chris Amon, Feilding	Jehan Daruvala	Thomas Randle	Pedro Piquet	M2 Competition	Marcus Armstrong	Report
	R2	12 February			Thomas Randle	Richard Verschoor	Giles Motorsport
	R3			Jehan Daruvala	Thomas Randle	Jehan Daruvala	M2 Competition

Championship standings

In order for a driver to score championship points, they have to complete at least 75% of the race winner's distance, and be running at the race's completion. All races counted towards the final championship standings.

Scoring system

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th
Points	75	67	60	54	49	45	42	39	36	33	30	28	26	24	22	20	18	16	14	12

Drivers' championship

Pos. Driver RUA TER HMP TAU MAN Points 1 align=left Thomas Randle 4 1 5 7 3 3 3 7 1 4 2 4 5 4 3 855 2 align=left Pedro Piquet 6 17 3 3 1 5 2 3 4 5 1 5 1 3 4 850 3 align=left style="background:#8FCFDF;" Richard Verschoor 3 2 4 1 2 1 4 2 16 8 6 7 4 1 5 843 4 align=left style="background:#8FCFDF;" Marcus Armstrong 1 3 Ret 11 4 4 1 4 Ret 2 4 1 3 2 2 792 5 align=left Jehan Daruvala 2 Ret 1 9 7 2 14 8 3 3 3 2 2 7 1 781 6 align=left style="background:#8FCFDF;" Enaam Ahmed 8 12 2 5 Ret 8 5 1 9 7 7 11 6 Ret 6 586 7 align=left Taylor Cockerton 5 4 11 6 5 9 8 9 6 Ret 15 6 7 6 10 574 8 align=left Ferdinand Habsburg 7 5 6 4 Ret 18 9 10 2 18 16 3 8 5 7 552 9 align=left Brendon Leitch 9 6 7 2 Ret 7 12 15 17 1 5 8 Ret 8 Ret 502 10 align=left Kami Laliberté 10 8 10 12 6 6 7 6 15 6 11 9 13 Ret 13 498 11 Keyvan Andres Soori 12 10 Ret 10 8 17 10 12 12 10 10 13 18 10 8 423 12 align=left style="background:#8FCFDF;" Shelby Blackstock 11 7 15 14 12 12 11 13 11 14 14 17 10 11 12 421 13 Luis Leeds 15 11 13 16 10 14 13 19 5 9 8 12 9 9 Ret 419 14 align=left style="background:#8FCFDF;" Christian Hahn 17 16 8 8 9 10 18 18 8 15 12 15 11 16 Ret 372 15 align=left style="background:#8FCFDF;" Harry Hayek 14 9 12 13 16 15 15 11 7 13 Ret 10 Ret 17 9 363 16 align=left style="background:#8FCFDF;" Ameya Vaidyanathan 13 14 Ret 15 11 19 6 5 Ret 12 17 14 14 14 11 358 17 align=left style="background:#8FCFDF;" Thomas Neubauer 16 18 14 20 13 13 Ret 14 13 11 9 18 16 15 14 308 18 align=left style="background:#8FCFDF;" Nikita Lastochkin Ret 15 Ret 17 14 11 Ret Ret 10 16 13 16 17 12 16 263 19 align=left style="background:#8FCFDF;" nowrap Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer 18 19 Ret 19 15 16 17 16 14 17 Ret 19 15 13 17 248 20 align=left style="background:#8FCFDF;" Kory Enders 19 13 9 18 Ret 20 16 17 Ret Ret Ret Ret 12 Ret 15 192 Pos. Driver RUA TER HMP TAU MAN Points

Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap Rookie

Notes and References

1. News: New Australasian team to challenge in Toyota Racing Series. 24 June 2016. Toyota New Zealand. 19 July 2016.
2. Web site: Field set for 2017 Toyota Racing Series. 30 December 2016. 30 December 2016.
3. Web site: Trio of Kiwis to battle strong international line-up in TRS. 19 December 2016. 21 December 2016.
4. Web site: French karting champion takes place of defending champion Lando Norris in TRS. 23 December 2016. 23 December 2016.
5. Web site: Habsburg joins Carlin for step up to European F3. 7 December 2016. 7 December 2016. "Habsburg will contest the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand for a third straight year next month, and will switch to top team M2 Competition after coming fourth in the 2016 standings with Giles Motorsport.".
6. Web site: Trio of Kiwis to battle strong international line-up in TRS. 19 December 2016. 21 December 2016.
7. Web site: Trio of Kiwis to battle strong international line-up in TRS. 19 December 2016. 21 December 2016.
8. News: Cockerton first entry for 2017 Toyota Racing Series. 10 August 2016. Toyota New Zealand. 23 August 2015.
9. Web site: Vaidyanathan joins MTEC for 2017 TRS season. 19 December 2016. 19 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161220181128/http://www.motorsport.com/openwheel/news/vaidyanathan-joins-mtec-for-2017-trs-season-860227/. 20 December 2016. dead.
10. News: Verschoor overwintert in Toyota Racing Series. 12 December 2016. Motorsport.com. 12 December 2016. Dutch.
11. Web site: Motorsport: Talented teen confirmed for Toyota Racing Series. 28 December 2016. 28 December 2016.
12. News: 16-YEAR-OLD HEADS AUSTRALIAN ASSAULT ON TOYOTA RACING SERIES. 15 December 2016. 15 December 2016.
13. News: Toyota Racing Series — prospects look good. 12 July 2016. Toyota New Zealand. 19 July 2016.