The 2016 Toyota Racing Series was the twelfth running of the Toyota Racing Series, the premier open-wheel motorsport category held in New Zealand. The series, which consisted of fifteen races at five meetings, began on 16 January at Ruapuna Park in Christchurch, and ended on 14 February with the 61st running of the New Zealand Grand Prix, at Manfeild Autocourse in Feilding.

As the first European driver to win the Toyota Racing Series, M2 Competition's Lando Norris wrapped up the championship with a race to spare, amassing six wins, eight poles, five fastest laps, and three round wins on his way to the title. Norris won a race at every meeting, taking a pair of victories in Taupō, while only finishing off the podium four times.

Force India protégé Jehan Daruvala took the runner-up spot in the championship, with one pole and three wins. Daruvala struggled in Ruapuna, but a strategic tyre gamble in a soggy Race 3 paid off, enabling him to take the Lady Wigram Trophy, despite starting 15th. Two further wins followed in Teretonga and Taupō, and solid top-8 finishes in each of the last nine races helped the Indian to second place overall.

New Zealand's Brendon Leitch finished the season in a strong third, despite only one win and three podiums. However, it was his amazing consistency that gave him such a good championship position, as he finished every race in the top 10. Leitch's 754-point haul is also the most points accrued by a Victory Motor Racing driver in team history.

Of the other drivers, Ferdinand Habsburg was top Giles Motorsport driver, after a strong campaign saw him take two wins. Pedro Piquet also took victory on two occasions, first in the second race at Teretonga, and again at Hampton Downs, where a superb run from pole saw him take the NZ Motor Cup. Piquet was often runaway leader Norris's main challenger, both on track and in the standings. Ferrari Driver Academy member Guanyu Zhou scored a breakthrough win in Hampton Downs and finished strongly throughout the duration of the series, although a disastrous final weekend compromised his attack. Rookie Taylor Cockerton was the best-placed ETEC Motorsport driver, finishing in ninth.

Teams and drivers

All teams were New Zealand-registered.

Team No. Driver Status Rounds
ETEC Motorsport 4 United States Theo Bean[1] R All
11 New Zealand Taylor Cockerton[2] R All
13 Brazil Rodrigo Baptista[3] R All
26 France Timothé Buret[4] R All
M2 Competition 5 Brazil Pedro Piquet[5] All
6 India Jehan Daruvala[6] R All
10 Russia Artem Markelov[7] All
15 Canada Kami Laliberté[8] R All
31 United Kingdom Lando Norris[9] R All
33 China Guanyu Zhou[10] R All
Giles Motorsport 17 Canada Devlin DeFrancesco R All
21 Argentina Nicolas Dapero R All
23 United States Will Owen[11] R All
40 New Zealand James Munro[12] All
62 Austria Ferdinand Habsburg[13] All
67 Poland Antoni Ptak Jr.[14] R All
Victory Motor Racing 18 Germany Julian Hanses[15] R All
25 Brazil Bruno Baptista[16] R All
49 Australia Thomas Randle[17] 5
86 New Zealand Brendon Leitch[18] All

Race calendar and results

The calendar for the series was announced on 23 June 2015, and will be held over five successive weekends in January and February.[19] As opposed to the previous year, all rounds will be triple-headers.[20]

Round Date Circuit Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Round winner(s) Report
1 R1 16 January Ruapuna Park, Christchurch United Kingdom Lando Norris United Kingdom Lando Norris Austria Ferdinand Habsburg Giles Motorsport Austria Ferdinand Habsburg Report
R2 17 January United Kingdom Lando Norris United Kingdom Lando Norris M2 Competition
R3 United Kingdom Lando Norris Brazil Pedro Piquet India Jehan Daruvala M2 Competition
2 R1 23 January Teretonga Park, Invercargill United Kingdom Lando Norris India Jehan Daruvala India Jehan Daruvala M2 Competition United Kingdom Lando Norris Report
R2 24 January United Kingdom Lando Norris Brazil Pedro Piquet M2 Competition
R3 United Kingdom Lando Norris United Kingdom Lando Norris United Kingdom Lando Norris M2 Competition
3 R1 30 January Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Waikato United Kingdom Lando Norris India Jehan Daruvala United Kingdom Lando Norris M2 Competition Brazil Pedro Piquet Report
R2 31 January China Guanyu Zhou China Guanyu Zhou M2 Competition
R3 Brazil Pedro Piquet Austria Ferdinand Habsburg Brazil Pedro Piquet M2 Competition
4 R1 6 February Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupō United Kingdom Lando Norris Brazil Pedro Piquet United Kingdom Lando Norris M2 Competition United Kingdom Lando Norris Report
R2 7 February India Jehan Daruvala India Jehan Daruvala M2 Competition
R3 United Kingdom Lando Norris United Kingdom Lando Norris United Kingdom Lando Norris M2 Competition
5 R1 13 February Manfeild Autocourse, Feilding India Jehan Daruvala New Zealand James Munro Austria Ferdinand Habsburg Giles Motorsport United Kingdom Lando Norris Report
R2 14 February Brazil Pedro Piquet New Zealand Brendon Leitch Victory Motor Racing
R3 United Kingdom Lando Norris Austria Ferdinand Habsburg United Kingdom Lando Norris 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 United Kingdom Lando Norris 3 1 9 2 2 1 1 17 6 1 2 1 3 4 1 924
2 India Jehan Daruvala 8 13 1 1 5 17 2 4 3 5 1 8 4 2 7 789
3 New Zealand Brendon Leitch 6 9 5 5 4 2 5 2 9 7 4 5 5 1 10 754
4 Austria Ferdinand Habsburg 1 7 2 13 8 4 6 9 8 6 12 4 1 7 3 727
5 Brazil Pedro Piquet 7 2 Ret 4 1 10 3 3 1 2 5 2 Ret 8 15 710
6 China Guanyu Zhou 5 3 4 7 6 8 7 1 4 4 3 3 Ret 10 17 685
7 New Zealand James Munro 4 Ret 14 15 10 9 4 11 2 3 6 11 2 6 4 621
8 Russia Artem Markelov 2 4 3 6 3 3 12 Ret 5 12 7 Ret Ret 12 2 588
9 New Zealand Taylor Cockerton 9 11 11 11 12 11 10 8 10 9 9 6 6 5 6 545
10 Canada Devlin DeFrancesco 14 10 6 Ret 14 5 11 13 12 8 11 10 7 9 13 465
11 Brazil Bruno Baptista Ret 8 8 Ret 13 6 9 7 Ret 10 8 7 9 11 9 443
12 Poland Antoni Ptak Jr. 13 5 12 3 Ret 15 8 5 11 Ret Ret 14 8 3 Ret 426
13 Canada Kami Laliberté Ret 14 7 Ret 16 7 17 6 7 11 Ret 9 14 14 8 386
14 United States Will Owen 11 12 Ret 10 9 13 16 10 Ret 13 10 12 15 17 14 357
15 France Timothé Buret 10 6 15 14 11 Ret 13 15 13 16 Ret 13 10 13 18 349
16 Brazil Rodrigo Baptista Ret 16 13 9 18 16 15 14 14 17 Ret Ret 11 16 11 286
17 Argentina Nicolas Dapero 12 DSQ 10 8 7 18 19 Ret Ret 14 Ret Ret Ret 15 16 238
18 United States Theo Bean 16 17 Ret 12 17 14 18 12 Ret 15 13 15 Ret 18 Ret 238
19 Germany Julian Hanses 15 15 Ret Ret 15 12 14 16 Ret Ret Ret 16 13 19 12 226
20 Australia Thomas Randle 12 20 5 89
Pos. Driver RUA TER HMP TAU MAN Points
ColourResult
GoldWinner
SilverSecond place
BronzeThird place
GreenPoints finish
BlueNon-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
PurpleRetired (Ret)
RedDid not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
BlackDisqualified (DSQ)
WhiteDid not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap

Rookie

References

  1. ↑ "Cockerton primed for Toyota Racing Series". NZ Motor Racing. 23 December 2015. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  2. ↑ "Cockerton primed for Toyota Racing Series". NZ Motor Racing. 23 December 2015. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. ↑ "Brazilian cousins for Toyota Racing Series". Toyota New Zealand. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  4. ↑ "Pro Mazda team-mates Buret and Owen head to TRS". Paddock Scout. 1 December 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  5. ↑ Allen, Peter (9 November 2015). "Pedro Piquet to return to Toyota Racing Series for 2016 edition". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "Daruvala announces Formula Renault 2.0 and Toyota programme for 2016". 9 December 2015. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  7. ↑ Allen, Peter (16 December 2015). "Markelov and Laliberte complete M2 Competition TRS line-up". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  8. ↑ Allen, Peter (16 December 2015). "Markelov and Laliberte complete M2 Competition TRS line-up". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  9. ↑ van Leeuwen, Andrew (30 November 2015). "MSA Formula champ secures TRS seat". motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 1 December 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  10. ↑ Allen, Peter (7 December 2015). "Ferrari sends Guan Yu Zhou to Toyota Racing Series". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  11. ↑ "Pro Mazda team-mates Buret and Owen head to TRS". Paddock Scout. 1 December 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  12. ↑ Allen, Peter (19 November 2015). "James Munro to do 2016 Toyota Racing Series with Giles team". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  13. ↑ David, Gruz (23 November 2015). "Habsburg joins Giles for second Toyota Racing Series campaign". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  14. ↑ "Polish and German drivers added to TRS start list". Toyota New Zealand. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  15. ↑ "Polish and German drivers added to TRS start list". Toyota New Zealand. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  16. ↑ "Brazilian cousins for Toyota Racing Series". nzmotorracing. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  17. ↑ "Aussie driver Randle returns for NZ Grand Prix". Fairfax New Zealand. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  18. ↑ "Brendon Leitch confirms late entry into Toyota Racing Series". Toyota New Zealand. 10 January 2016. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  19. ↑ "PREMIER RACING CALENDAR UNITES KIWI MOTORSPORT". MotorSport New Zealand. 23 June 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  20. ↑ "2016 Toyota Racing Series Championship Articles" (PDF). MotorSport New Zealand. MotorSport New Zealand Inc. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
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