“I ll have to sort my starts out,” van Gisbergen said following his victory. “I managed to get past him and took the only chance I got and it worked out really well. Twenty-eight laps tomorrow is going to be a long way. “We ve been making a few tweaks and the car is almost there but there s a little more to come. It s going to be awesome tomorrow and qualifying in the morning is going to be really important. Van der Drift was philosophical with his second place and felt the car had lost a tiny percentage of its pace-setting speed from Friday, but he remained optimistic about his chances on Sunday.
Shane
van Gisbergen put in a sensational final effort to top
Castrol Toyota Racing Series qualifying.
Picture Bruce
Jenkins
The Giz’s superb lap
of 1 minute 30.231 puts him on pole position for Sunday’s
morning race on Grand Prix day. Pole position for the first
race on Saturday goes to Friday pace setter Chris van der
Drift who’s second fastest time was quicker than the
Bathurst 1000 champion’s. A second qualifying session on
Sunday morning will decide the grid order for the Grand Prix
itself.
Friday pacesetter Chris van der Drift had set
the pace throughout the session and looked set for pole
Van Gisbergen wins NZGP curtain raiser Repco Supercars Championship By James Pavey, Pics by John Cowpland
Shane van Gisbergen has translated his successful Supercars form into the Toyota Racing Series season opener at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park.
The Red Bull Ampol Racing driver, who took victory his last Supercars start at last October s Bathurst 1000, claimed the Race 1 win ahead of tomorrow’s New Zealand Grand Prix.
The Kiwi started on pole alongside countryman Chris van der Drift, who led the early stages of the race.
The duo traded fastest lap times, with the Supercars star looming large in van der Drift s mirrors.
Friday, 22 January 2021, 4:12 pm
Multiple
international champion and former Team New Zealand A1GP
driver Chris van der Drift fired the opening shot in the
first major practice session at the 66th New Zealand Grand
Prix at Hampton Downs this
afternoon.
He
waited until the second half of the session before posting a
flat 1 minute 31 second lap, which was enough to see him go
fastest overall by just over a tenth of a second.
With
most of the drivers opting to run on old tyres before
changing to new rubber, the session provided the first
glimpse of the likely pacesetters over the forthcoming Grand
Friday, 8 January 2021, 5:04 pm
He’s
back and Brendon Leitch will start as one of the GP
favourites. Picture: Dayle ITM
Racing.
Invercargill s Brendon
Leitch will take the wheel of a Castrol Toyota Racing Series
car one more time when he steps aboard to try and add his
name to the New Zealand Grand Prix Trophy later this
month.
Twenty five year old Leitch is the most
experienced TRS racer in the world having competed in TRS
championships in the first generation FT40 car and the more
recent FT50. He has also tested the current FT60 car and has
extensive experience in the Tatuus chassis having raced last