The 2011 Toyota Racing Series was the seventh running of the Toyota Racing Series. The Toyota Racing Series is New Zealand's premier open-wheeler motorsport category.
Defending champion Mitch Evans of Giles Motorsport retained both his International Trophy and main series titles, joining Daniel Gaunt as the only drivers to have won the Series on more than one occasion, after enjoying a successful championship campaign. Evans took seven race victories – including becoming the youngest-ever winner of the New Zealand Grand Prix – and fourteen podium finishes out of a possible fifteen races. Evans clinched both championship titles at Manfield after his closest rival at the time, Scott Pye elected not to attend the final meeting of the season at Taupō due to testing commitments in Europe. Pye fell to fourth in the championship standings after strong weekends for Nick Cassidy and Jamie McNee allowed them to overhaul Pye's points tally.
Cassidy, another Giles Motorsport driver, finished as top rookie after taking the round victory at Taupō which included his first two race wins in the Series, and he also took five further podium finishes as he finished 168 points behind Evans. McNee, in his second season in the championship, took his first race victories, winning at Timaru and Hampton Downs as well as a second place at Taupō to finish 47 points clear of Pye. Russian driver Daniil Kvyat finished the best of the five European drivers in the series, finishing in fifth place for Victory Motor Racing with a solitary victory at Manfeild. Two other drivers won races during the season, Russia's Ivan Lukashevich, like fellow countryman Kvyat won at Manfeild, and Britain's Alex Lynn won at Teretonga.
Teams and drivers Team Driver Rounds Giles Motorsport 1 Mitch Evans All 7 Nick Cassidy All 13 Nick Foster All 36 Alex Lynn 1–4 M2 Competition 2 Earl Bamber 4 4 Kotaro Sakurai 1–4 5 Ivan Lukashevich 1–4 11 Earl Bamber 3 Ken Smith 4 22 Jordan Skinner All ETEC Motorsport 8 Jamie McNee All 19 Scott Pye 1–4 Jono Lester 5 20 Josh Hill 1–4 48 Mario Farnbacher 1–4 Dart International 17 Alastair Wootten All Victory Motor Racing 29 Daniil Kvyat 1–4 87 Damon Leitch All
Calendar The first four rounds were part of the International Trophy.
Round Date Circuit/Location 1 R1 15 January Teretonga Park, Invercargill R2 16 January R3 2 R1 22 January Timaru International Motor Raceway, Timaru R2 23 January R3 3 R1 5 February Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Waikato R2 6 February R3 4 R1 12 February Manfeild Autocourse, Feilding R2 13 February R3 5 R1 12 March Taupo Motorsport Park, Taupō R2 13 March R3
Results Round Circuit Pole Position Winning Driver Winning Team Round Winning Driver Round Winning Team 1 R1 Teretonga Park, Invercargill Mitch Evans Scott Pye ETEC Motorsport Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport R2 Nick Cassidy Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport R3 Alex Lynn Giles Motorsport 2 R1 Timaru International Motor Raceway, Timaru Mitch Evans Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport R2 Mitch Evans Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport R3 Jamie McNee ETEC Motorsport 3 R1 Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Waikato Nick Foster Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport R2 Jamie McNee ETEC Motorsport R3 Nick Foster Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport 4 R1 Manfeild Autocourse, Feilding Daniil Kvyat Daniil Kvyat Victory Motor Racing Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport R2 Ivan Lukashevich M2 Competition R3 Mitch Evans Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport 5 R1 Taupo Motorsport Park, Taupō Mitch Evans Nick Cassidy Giles Motorsport Nick Cassidy Giles Motorsport R2 Mitch Evans Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport R3 Nick Cassidy Giles Motorsport
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 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th Points 75 67 60 54 49 45 42 39 36 33 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Drivers' Championship Pos Driver TER TIM HMP MAN TAU Points 1 Mitch Evans 2 1 3 1 1 3 1 2 1 2 2 1 Ret 1 3 973 2 Nick Cassidy 9 2 8 5 2 4 3 3 3 11 6 8 1 5 1 805 3 Jamie McNee 6 10 11 12 6 1 5 1 6 13 7 12 6 2 7 675 4 Scott Pye 1 4 5 3 4 7 11 9 4 3 4 3 628 5 Daniil Kvyat 3 Ret 6 13 7 5 2 7 2 1 3 2 600 6 Alastair Wootten 11 7 7 8 9 6 8 10 7 7 15 Ret 3 6 2 584 7 Ivan Lukashevich 8 8 9 6 5 2 10 12 10 6 1 7 531 8 Damon Leitch Ret 3 4 11 8 Ret 6 5 14 8 8 Ret 4 8 6 517 9 Alex Lynn 4 6 1 2 3 10 4 4 Ret 9 9 Ret 514 10 Nick Foster 5 9 Ret 7 10 Ret Ret 13 13 5 14 5 2 3 5 510 11 Jordan Skinner 10 Ret 12 9 11 9 12 Ret 11 10 Ret 10 7 7 8 410 12 Mario Farnbacher Ret 5 2 4 Ret Ret 13 11 8 4 10 6 397 13 Josh Hill Ret 12 10 Ret 13 8 9 8 9 12 5 4 368 14 Kotaro Sakurai 7 11 13 10 12 Ret 14 14 12 14 11 9 325 15 Earl Bamber 7 6 5 Ret 12 Ret 164 16 Jono Lester 5 4 4 157 17 Ken Smith 15 13 11 78 Pos Driver TER TIM HMP MAN TAU PointsBold – Pole R – Rookie
References