2021 Toyota Racing Series

2021 Toyota Racing Series

Drivers' Champion:
Matt Payne

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2020

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2022
2023 (FR Oceania)

The 2021 Castrol Toyota Racing Series was the seventeenth running of the Toyota Racing Series, the premier open-wheel motorsport category held in New Zealand. The series consisted of nine races at three meetings. It began on 24 January at Hampton Downs, in Waikato, and concluded on 14 February at Manfeild, Feilding. ^[1] The season opener also hosted the 66th running of the New Zealand Grand Prix. ^[2] The 2021 Toyota Racing Series was the first season in which no individual race teams were running and all drivers were under a Toyota Racing banner. This was due to the COVID situation. ^[3]

Teams and drivers

Team	No.	Driver	Rounds
M2 Competition	3	Chris Vlok [4]	All
	7	Matt Payne [5]	All
	14	Billy Frazer [6]	All
	15	Kaleb Ngatoa [7]	All
	32	Josh Bethune [8]	1
	97	Shane van Gisbergen [9]	1
TGR NZ	11	Conrad Clark [10]	All
Giles Motorsport	22	Tom Alexander [11]	1–2
	24	Andre Heimgartner [12]	1
	50	Ken Smith [13]	1
	84	Peter Vodanovich [14]	All
Tasman Motorsports	27	Daniel Gaunt [15]	1
	31	Chris van der Drift [16]	1
Kiwi Motorsport	51	Greg Murphy [17]	1
	86	Brendon Leitch [18]	1
	87	Damon Leitch [19]	1

Changes

Sporting

To compensate for the shortened calendar, the race distances were increased, from 50 and 70 kilometers to 70 and 80 kilometers respectively. ^[20]

Race calendar

The 2021 calendar was announced on 17 November 2020. Heavy border restrictions in New Zealand because of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a shortened calendar compared to traditional seasons, with only three race weekends at two circuits, limited to the North Island. ^[21]

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Race Winner
1	R1	Hampton Downs Motorsport Park (Hampton Downs, North Waikato)	23 January	Chris van der Drift	Shane van Gisbergen	Shane van Gisbergen
	R2		24 January	Shane van Gisbergen	Shane van Gisbergen	Shane van Gisbergen
	R3			Kaleb Ngatoa	Shane van Gisbergen	Shane van Gisbergen
2	R1	Hampton Downs Motorsport Park (Hampton Downs, North Waikato)	30 January	Matthew Payne	Peter Vodanovich	Matthew Payne
	R2			Matthew Payne	Matthew Payne	Matthew Payne
3	R1	Manfeild: Circuit Chris Amon (Feilding, Manawatū District)	13 February	Matthew Payne	Matthew Payne	Matthew Payne
	R2			Matthew Payne	Matthew Payne	Matthew Payne
	R3		14 February	Matthew Payne	Matthew Payne	Billy Frazer [a]
	R4			Matthew Payne	Matthew Payne	Matthew Payne
Source: [21]

Championship standings

Drivers' championship

Pos. Driver HD1 HD2 MAN Points 1 Matthew Payne 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 287 2 Kaleb Ngatoa 5 4 4 4 2 2 3 4 5 229 3 Billy Frazer 10 9 8 3 6 4 5 1 2 201 4 Conrad Clark 12 6 10 6 5 3 4 5 3 183 5 Peter Vodanovich 9 7 Ret 2 DSQ 5 2 3 4 167 6 Chris Vlok 14 10 13 7 4 6 6 6 6 149 7 Shane van Gisbergen 1 1 1 105 8 Tom Alexander 8 Ret 11 5 3 75 9 Chris van der Drift 2 2 12 71 10 Damon Leitch 11 5 5 54 11 Andre Heimgartner 6 Ret 2 51 12 Brendon Leitch 4 Ret 6 44 13 Daniel Gaunt 7 Ret 7 36 14 Josh Bethune Ret 8 14 23 15 Greg Murphy 13 Ret 9 22 16 Ken Smith 15 Ret 15 12 Pos. Driver HD1 HD2 MAN Points

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points classification Blue Non-points classification Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired, not classified (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

Notes

1. Matthew Payne finished first but received two five-second time penalties for separate infringements (lining up outside of grid box and safety car restart procedure).

References

1. "Confirmed: Three round TRS calendar for 2021, no South Island circuits". VelocityNews. 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
2. Wood, Elliot (2020-11-24). "New Zealand GP to run at TRS season opener at Hampton Downs". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
3. "Unique New Zealand Grand Prix set to make history this weekend". Toyota New Zealand. 2020-11-21. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
4. "Stars align for Vlok for second TRS campaign, eight years after first". Toyota NZ. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
5. "Top Kiwi karter confirms full Castrol TRS campaign". Toyota NZ. December 10, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
6. "Frazer secures his spot for Castrol TRS". Toyota NZ. December 14, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
7. "Ngatoa confirms full Castrol TRS campaign". Toyota NZ. December 17, 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
8. "2021 Castrol TRS championship set to intensify as Bethune confirmed". Toyota NZ. December 22, 2020. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
9. "Bathurst winner and first champion wildcard to enter New Zealand Grand Prix". Toyota NZ. December 8, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
10. "Clark completes GP and TRS line up". Toyota NZ. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
11. Wood, Elliot (2021-01-15). "Two more Kiwi racing stars join New Zealand GP grid". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
12. "Kiwi Supercars star Andre Heimgartner to race at NZ Grand Prix". Stuff. 2021-01-09. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
13. "Kiwi legend confirms 50th New Zealand Grand Prix drive". Toyota NZ. December 4, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
14. "Peter Vodanovich graduates to full Toyota Racing Series season". Motorsport NZ. January 18, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
15. "Gaunt gunning to join elite group in 2021 New Zealand Grand Prix". Toyota NZ. December 18, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
16. "Chris van der Drift and Tasman Motorsports Group back for New Zealand Grand Prix". Toyota NZ. December 16, 2020. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
17. "Four time Bathurst winner Greg Murphy is a GP starter". Toyota NZ. December 20, 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
18. "Leitch a real factor for GP honours". Toyota NZ. January 8, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
19. "Damon confirmation makes it two Leitch brothers in the 2021 NZ Grand Prix". Toyota NZ. January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
20. "TRS season shortened to three rounds". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
21. "TRS TO GO AHEAD IN 2021". Auto Action. 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2020-11-17.

External links

• Official website of the Toyota Racing Series