The 2017 Castrol Toyota Racing Series was the thirteenth running of the Toyota Racing Series, the premier open-wheel motorsport category held in New Zealand. The series consisted of fifteen races at five meetings. It began on 14 January at Ruapuna Park in Christchurch, and concluded on 12 February with the 62nd running of the New Zealand Grand Prix, at Circuit Chris Amon in Feilding. Lando Norris was the defending drivers' champion but decided not to compete, concentrating on his European Formula Three campaign, whilst M2 Competition were the defending teams champions.

Thomas Randle became the first Australian to win the Toyota Racing Series when he clinched the title by five points over Pedro Piquet. In third place overall and the best-placed rookie was Red Bull Junior driver, Richard Verschoor, who led most of the championship through strong, consistent performances. The best-placed Kiwi would be rookie and Ferrari Driver Academy driver, Marcus Armstrong; beating out his other countrymen - Taylor Cockerton and Brendon Leitch.

Teams and drivers A new team, MTEC Motorsport made their debut this season. In December 2016, the grid was finalized as follows:

Team Driver Status RoundsVictory Motor Racing 3 Brendon Leitch All 49 Thomas Randle All 51 Shelby Blackstock All 80 Nikita Lastochkin All M2 Competition 5 Pedro Piquet All 8 Marcus Armstrong All 9 Jehan Daruvala All 27 Jean Baptiste Simmenauer All 62 Ferdinand Habsburg All 83 Kami Laliberté All MTEC Motorsport 10 Thomas Neubauer All 11 Taylor Cockerton All 24 Ameya Vaidyanathan All 33 Kory Enders All Giles Motorsport 12 Christian Hahn All 22 Richard Verschoor All 26 Harry Hayek All 47 Keyvan Andres Soori All 65 Enaam Ahmed All 96 Luis Leeds All

Race calendar and results The calendar for the series was announced on 12 July 2016, and was held over five successive weekends in January and February.

Round Date Circuit Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Report 1 R1 14 January Mike Pero Motorsport Park, Christchurch Jehan Daruvala Richard Verschoor Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition Richard Verschoor Report R2 15 January Taylor Cockerton Thomas Randle Victory Motor Racing R3 Jehan Daruvala Jehan Daruvala Jehan Daruvala M2 Competition 2 R1 21 January Teretonga Park, Invercargill Thomas Randle Thomas Randle Richard Verschoor Giles Motorsport Richard Verschoor Report R2 22 January Thomas Randle Pedro Piquet M2 Competition R3 Brendon Leitch Richard Verschoor Richard Verschoor Giles Motorsport 3 R1 28 January Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Waikato Thomas Randle Thomas Randle Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition Pedro Piquet Report R2 29 January Enaam Ahmed Enaam Ahmed Giles Motorsport R3 Thomas Randle Thomas Randle Thomas Randle Victory Motor Racing 4 R1 4 February Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupō Marcus Armstrong Brendon Leitch Brendon Leitch Victory Motor Racing Marcus Armstrong Report R2 5 February Taylor Cockerton Pedro Piquet M2 Competition R3 Jehan Daruvala Jehan Daruvala Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition 5 R1 11 February Circuit Chris Amon, Feilding Jehan Daruvala Thomas Randle Pedro Piquet M2 Competition Marcus Armstrong Report R2 12 February Thomas Randle Richard Verschoor Giles Motorsport R3 Jehan Daruvala Thomas Randle Jehan Daruvala 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 Thomas Randle 4 1 5 7 3 3 3 7 1 4 2 4 5 4 3 855 2 Pedro Piquet 6 17 3 3 1 5 2 3 4 5 1 5 1 3 4 850 3 Richard Verschoor 3 2 4 1 2 1 4 2 16 8 6 7 4 1 5 843 4 Marcus Armstrong 1 3 Ret 11 4 4 1 4 Ret 2 4 1 3 2 2 792 5 Jehan Daruvala 2 Ret 1 9 7 2 14 8 3 3 3 2 2 7 1 781 6 Enaam Ahmed 8 12 2 5 Ret 8 5 1 9 7 7 11 6 Ret 6 586 7 Taylor Cockerton 5 4 11 6 5 9 8 9 6 Ret 15 6 7 6 10574 8 Ferdinand Habsburg 7 5 6 4 Ret 18 9 10 2 18 16 3 8 5 7552 9 Brendon Leitch 9 6 7 2 Ret 7 12 15 17 1 5 8 Ret 8 Ret502 10 Kami Laliberté 10 8 10 12 6 6 7 6 15 6 11 9 13 Ret 1349811 Keyvan Andres Soori 12 10 Ret 10 8 17 10 12 12 10 10 131810 842312 Shelby Blackstock 11 7 15 14 12 12 11 13 11 14 14 17 10 11 1242113 Luis Leeds 15 11 13 16 10 14 13 19 5 9 8 12 9 9 Ret 419 14 Christian Hahn 17 16 8 8 9 10 18 18 8 15 12 15 11 16 Ret372 15 Harry Hayek 14 9 12 13 16 15 15 11 7 13 Ret 10 Ret 17 9363 16 Ameya Vaidyanathan 13 14 Ret 15 11 19 6 5 Ret 12 17 14 1414 11358 17 Thomas Neubauer 16 18 14 20 13 13 Ret 14 13 11 9 18 1615 14308 18 Nikita Lastochkin Ret 15 Ret 17 14 11 Ret Ret 10 16 13 16 1712 16263 19 Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer 18 19 Ret 19 15 16 17 16 14 17 Ret 19 1513 17248 20 Kory Enders 19 13 9 18 Ret 20 16 17 Ret Ret Ret Ret 12 Ret 15 192 Pos. Driver RUA TER HMP TAU MAN PointsBold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap Rookie

References