The 2015 Toyota Racing Series was the eleventh running of the Toyota Racing Series, the premier open-wheeler motorsport category held in New Zealand. The series, which consisted of sixteen races at five meetings, began on 14 January at Ruapuna Park in Christchurch, and ended on 15 February with the 60th running of the New Zealand Grand Prix, at Manfeild Autocourse in Feilding.

With a third-place finish in the penultimate race of the season at Manfeild, Canadian driver Lance Stroll – driving for M2 Competition – clinched the championship title, having amassed an unassailable 93-point lead ahead of the final race. Stroll won three of the first four races held in the series at Ruapuna and Teretonga (taking the round wins at both circuits) before consistent finishing for the remainder of the campaign allowed him to maintain his championship lead throughout. Stroll added his fourth win of the season in the final race, the New Zealand Grand Prix, becoming the first Canadian to win the Grand Prix. M2 Competition team-mate Brandon Maïsano finished the season as runner-up, 108 points in arrears of Stroll. Maïsano won five races during the season – the most of all drivers – with a win at each meeting except for Teretonga, while taking the round win at Hampton Downs.

Third place in the championship went to Santino Ferrucci, for the Giles Motorsport team. Ferrucci took five podium finishes before taking his first victory at Manfeild, in the second race. He finished 33 points behind Maïsano and 141 behind Stroll. Four other drivers took race victories during the 2015 season as Arjun Maini (M2 Competition) and Sam MacLeod (Giles Motorsport) each won two races – both at Hampton Downs and Taupō respectively – as they completed the top five in the drivers' championship, with MacLeod taking the round wins at Taupō and Manfeild. Two drivers from New Zealand also won races, both coming at Teretonga Park as Jamie Conroy – another M2 Competition driver – and Brendon Leitch, for Victory Motor Racing, both achieved their first victories in the series. Only ETEC Motorsport failed to take a race win, with a pair of third places from Thomas Randle being their best result.

Teams and drivers All teams were New-Zealand registered. Team Driver Status Rounds Giles Motorsport 4 Alfonso Celis Jr. All 5 Sam MacLeod All 7 Dzhon Simonyan 1–3 Sérgio Sette Câmara 4–5 10 Santino Ferrucci All 21 Artem Markelov All 40 James Munro All M2 Competition 8 Mathias Kristensen All 18 Lance Stroll All 19 Brandon Maïsano All 23 Jamie Conroy All 28 Charlie Eastwood All 36 Arjun Maini All Victory Motor Racing 11 Stefan Riener All 62 Ferdinand Habsburg All 86 Brendon Leitch All 87 Damon Leitch All ETEC Motorsport 12 Matteo Ferrer All 17 Nikita Mazepin All 49 Thomas Randle All 53 Callum Ilott All

Race calendar and results The calendar for the series was announced on 14 July 2014, and was held over five successive weekends in January and February. The event at Taupo Motorsport Park was held as a quadruple-header, the first such instance for the series.

Round Date Circuit Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team 1 R1 17 January Ruapuna Park, Christchurch Brandon Maïsano Stefan Riener Lance Stroll M2 Competition Lance Stroll R2 18 January Brandon Maïsano Brandon Maïsano M2 Competition R3 Sam MacLeod Sam MacLeod Lance Stroll M2 Competition 2 R1 24 January Teretonga Park, Invercargill Matteo Ferrer Lance Stroll Lance Stroll M2 Competition Lance Stroll R2 25 January Santino Ferrucci Jamie Conroy M2 Competition R3 Brendon Leitch Santino Ferrucci Brendon Leitch Victory Motor Racing 3 R1 31 January Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Waikato Arjun Maini Arjun Maini Arjun Maini M2 Competition Brandon Maïsano R2 1 February Ferdinand Habsburg Brandon Maïsano M2 Competition R3 Brandon Maïsano Arjun Maini Sam MacLeod Giles Motorsport 4 R1 7 February Taupo Motorsport Park, Taupō Arjun Maini Thomas Randle Sam MacLeod Giles Motorsport Sam MacLeod R2 Brandon Maïsano Brandon Maïsano M2 Competition R3 8 February Brandon Maïsano Brandon Maïsano Brandon Maïsano M2 Competition R4 Arjun Maini Charlie Eastwood Arjun Maini M2 Competition 5 R1 14 February Manfeild Autocourse, Feilding Brandon Maïsano Brandon Maïsano Brandon Maïsano M2 Competition Sam MacLeod R2 15 February Callum Ilott Santino Ferrucci Giles Motorsport R3 Arjun Maini Brandon Maïsano Lance Stroll M2 Competition

Championship standings In order for a driver to score championship points, they had 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 Lance Stroll 1 4 1 1 3 3 Ret 5 2 3 4 2 11 6 3 1 906 2 Brandon Maïsano 5 1 Ret 12 11 6 2 1 3 6 1 1 Ret 1 8 3 798 3 Santino Ferrucci 7 5 4 Ret 17 2 3 3 5 2 2 8 16 5 1 5 765 4 Arjun Maini 2 6 2 9 7 4 1 16 4 12 14 4 1 2 17 14 750 5 Sam MacLeod Ret 8 5 Ret 13 5 Ret 9 1 1 6 3 5 3 2 4 684 6 Damon Leitch 15 9 14 8 9 13 5 6 18 8 8 5 6 12 16 10 546 7 Charlie Eastwood 4 2 Ret 14 12 10 12 14 15 NC 9 7 3 15 12 2 535 8 Artem Markelov Ret Ret 3 5 2 7 7 Ret 6 14 Ret Ret 2 7 7 6 525 9 James Munro 13 10 12 2 4 9 6 Ret 9 7 Ret 6 4 9 Ret 16 522 10 Thomas Randle 3 14 6 11 8 8 Ret 8 7 4 3 Ret 9 19 Ret 9 518 11 Mathias Kristensen 9 12 10 10 10 14 9 4 19 11 7 14 7 14 10 18 502 12 Ferdinand Habsburg 6 3 Ret 7 6 12 10 2 11 15 16 16 14 11 14 Ret 490 13 Stefan Riener 11 15 7 3 Ret DNS 13 7 10 9 5 15 Ret 10 5 8 483 14 Brendon Leitch 10 Ret 9 4 5 1 DSQ 11 16 NC 11 10 8 13 11 15 477 15 Jamie Conroy 12 11 13 6 1 11 NC 13 14 Ret 13 11 13 18 9 12 446 16 Callum Ilott 16 NC Ret 15 14 Ret 4 12 17 Ret 12 12 12 4 4 Ret 358 17 Alfonso Celis Jr. 8 7 8 DNS Ret DNS Ret 10 12 10 Ret 18 10 17 15 13 329 18 Nikita Mazepin Ret 13 Ret 13 16 15 11 Ret 8 13 10 17 15 20 Ret 11 304 19 Matteo Ferrer 14 16 11 Ret 15 NC Ret 15 13 Ret 17 9 Ret 16 13 7 286 20 Sérgio Sette Câmara 5 15 13 Ret 8 6 17 199 21 Dzhon Simonyan Ret Ret DNS DNS 18 Ret 8 NC Ret 55 Pos. Driver RUA TER HMP TAU MAN PointsBold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

References