Toyota racing series confirms 2008-2009 dates

New Zealand’s premier single-seater category has announced its race calendar for the 2008-2009 summer of motorsport amidst what organisers say is the strongest-ever competitor interest.

Already, the series has its first entry for the coming seven-round championship season, which includes all of New Zealand’s most prestigious racing trophies.

The season begins at Pukekohe in November with the New Zealand Motor Cup and concludes in 2009 with racing at the Hamilton 400 street race. Along the way, the TRS competitors will race at every Kiwi race circuit and will be seen at the A1GP race meeting at Taupo.

Once more, a three-round “series within a series” will be fought out for the TRS International Trophy, with racers from Australia, USA and Europe likely to swell the grids for these events.

Toyota Racing Series Manager Barrie Thomlinson says interest from drivers has never been as strong.

“This far out from the first race of the Championship, there has never been as much interest. People are developing their plans now, and courting sponsors now. That’s a huge shift in how our young racers develop their career aspirations.”

First to enter the series is Alastair Wootten, making his step up from Formula Ford. Currently studying at Auckland University of Technology, 18 year old Wootten will race for the new DART International team. He is a Speedsport “Search for a Star” Scholarship winner and began his motorsport career in 1998, racing midgets at the age of 8. Graduating to karting in 2003, he took category and junior national titles before stepping up to Formula First in 2006 and then on to Formula Ford.

He will join other TRS drivers including 2008 rookie of the year Michael Burdett, Sam MacNeill, Keeley Pudney and Mitch Cunningham on a TRS stand at the second annual New Zealand Speed Show, September 20 and 21.


Wootten is not likely to be the only Formula Ford graduate in the coming series. Organisers of the Toyota Racing Series held a briefing for the 2007-2008 Formula Ford field in the later part of last season to map out opportunities for the drivers to gain essential experience in a premier open-wheeler category before heading overseas.

As a result the 2008-2009 TRS ranks may be swelled by up to four of the fastest of last year’s Formula Ford drivers.

This month, they extended the same opportunity to rising Australian racers at a one-day test organised by TRS entrant Trevor Sheumack.

Series management say the career path for aspiring racers in New Zealand is now clearer than ever, with TRS series graduate (and the youngest driver to ever win a TRS race) Brendon Hartley now racing and winning in Formula Three in Europe and the UK; and graduates including Daniel Gaunt, Andy Knight and Earl Bamber all engaged in the next steps of their careers.

“Strong early interest in New Zealand, an enthusiastic reception from the Aussie drivers, Brendon at the sharp end of the F3 grid in the UK: these are all signs that the Toyota Racing Series has truly become the next step for aspiring racers. It gives them experience with aerodynamic, slick tyres, composite chassis and more importantly it gives drivers a first insight into true team dynamics and an understanding of how important their relationship with their engineer, team chief and crew will be as they progress,” said Barrie Thomlinson.

The Championship year starts with the NZ Motor Cup at Pukekohe November 7-9, then shifts south to Christchurch at the end of that month for the Wigram Cup. It takes a break through the December period, resuming at the Timaru International Raceway on January 9-11 with the Timaru Herald Trophy, the first round of the international series.

Teams then head for the deep south to contest the Spirit of a Nation race at Invercargill’s Levels Raceway on January 16-18, returning to the North Island a week later to race for the Denny Hulme Trophy at the Taupo A1GP weekend. These three rounds will decide the winner of the International Series.

The season’s undisputed highlight is the New Zealand Grand Prix, which will be raced at Manfeild 27-Feb-1 March 2009, with that weekend also deciding the Dan Higgins Trophy.

A new race fills the final points-bearing round of the championship when the Toyota become the first premier-class single seaters to take to the track at the new Hampton Downs circuit in the northern Waikato on 20-22 March.


The eighth and final round brings the TRS cars back to the streets of Hamilton at the V8 Supercar race, April 17-19. This event, the second time the TRS cars will race on a street circuit, does not carry Championship points.

The Toyota Racing Series provides a cost-controlled formula for the annual New Zealand Grand Prix and a healthy New Zealand Championship series runs between October and April on circuits throughout New Zealand. In addition to the Grand Prix, the TRS also includes the three-round international “series within a series”.

The TRS race cars feature Italian-built carbon fibre chassis, six speed transmissions and race-modified series production 2ZZ-GE 1.8-litre Toyota engines that produce 160 kW (215 bhp), propelling the 550 kg cars to a top speed of 230 kph. They incorporate state of the art technology and offer the most up-to-date single seater option in Australasia.

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Toyota Racing Series 2009 Race Calendar | Round 1 7-9 Nov 08 Pukekohe Park Raceway, Auckland, New Zealand Motorcup | Round 2 28-30 Nov 08 Powerbuilt Tools International Raceway, Ruapuna, Wigram Cup | Round 3 9-11 Jan 09 Timaru International Raceway, Timaru, Timaru Herald Trophy | Round 4 16-18 Jan 09 Teretonga Park, Invercargill, Spirit of a Nation | Round 5 23-25 Jan 09 Taupo Motor Racing Circuit, Taupo, Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy | Round 6 27 Feb - 1 Mar 09 Manfeild Park, Feilding, New Zealand Grand Prix & Dan Higgins Trophy | Round 7 20-22 Mar 09 Hampton Downs, North Waikato | Round 8 17-19 Apr 09 Hamilton Street Race, Hamilton