The 2019 Castrol Toyota Racing Series was the fifteenth 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 10 January at Highlands Motorsport Park, in Cromwell, and concluded on 10 February with the 64th running of the New Zealand Grand Prix, at Circuit Chris Amon in Feilding.

The championship, as well as the 2019 New Zealand Grand Prix was won by rookie Liam Lawson; who became the first New Zealander to win the championship since Nick Cassidy in 2013.

Champion Liam Lawson and runner-up Marcus Armstrong both took five wins apiece, whilst Cameron Das, FIA Formula 3 European Championship driver Lucas Auer, Esteban Muth, Brendon Leitch and Artem Petrov all had one race win each.

Teams and drivers

Team No. Driver Status Rounds MTEC Motorsport 5 Petru Florescu All 11 Jackson Walls 2–5 36 Kazuto Kotaka All 54 Calan Williams AllGiles Motorsport 7 Raoul Hyman All 9 Petr Ptáček All 16 Tommy Smith All 21 Dev Gore All 48 Ken Smith 5 M2 Competition 8 Marcus Armstrong All 10 Liam Lawson All 12 Artem Petrov All 22 Lucas Auer All 28 Cameron Das All 30 Esteban Muth All Victory Motor Racing 66 Parker Locke All 86 Brendon Leitch All

Race calendar The calendar for the series was announced on 19 June 2018, and will be held over five successive weekends in January and February. Races 2 and 3 of the second round at Teretonga were postponed to due high winds and rescheduled. Race 2 will be run at Hampton Downs, and Race 3 qualifying and race will be run at Taupō.

Round Circuit Date Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team 1 R1 Highlands Motorsport ParkCromwell, Otago 12 January Raoul Hyman Liam Lawson Liam Lawson M2 Competition R2 13 January Brendon Leitch Brendon Leitch Victory Motor Racing R3 Lucas Auer Liam Lawson Liam Lawson M2 Competition 2 R1 Teretonga ParkInvercargill, Southland 19 January Liam Lawson Marcus Armstrong Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition R2 20 January Races 2 and 3 cancelled due to unsafe high wind conditions. R3 3 R1 Hampton Downs Motorsport ParkHampton Downs, North Waikato 25 January Cameron Das Artem Petrov M2 Competition R2 26 January Marcus Armstrong Marcus Armstrong Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition R3 27 January Liam Lawson Liam Lawson M2 Competition R4 Marcus Armstrong Artem Petrov Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition 4 R1 Bruce McLaren Motorsport ParkTaupō, South Waikato 2 February Liam Lawson Liam Lawson Liam Lawson M2 Competition R2 Liam Lawson Marcus Armstrong Lucas Auer M2 Competition R3 3 February Marcus Armstrong Esteban Muth M2 Competition R4 Lucas Auer Lucas Auer Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition 5 R1 Manfeild: Circuit Chris AmonFeilding, Manawatū District 9 February Liam Lawson Marcus Armstrong Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition R2 10 February Cameron Das Cameron Das M2 Competition R3 Lucas Auer Liam Lawson Liam Lawson M2 Competition

Championship standings

The series had introduced a new drivers' championship points system for the season. Drivers were awarded the same number of points for Races 1 & 3. Race 2 featured a reversed grid of the top 6 to 8 finishers from Race 1, and awarded reduced points to the top 15 finishers. Drivers must have completed 75% of the race distance and be running at the finish to score points.

Scoring system Race (starting grid from qualifying) Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th Points 35 31 27 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Reversed grid Race Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th Points 20 18 16 14 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Drivers' championship Pos. Driver HIG TER HMP TAU MAN Points 1 Liam Lawson 1 5 1 2 C C 7 3 1 Ret 1 2 3 3 2 5 1 356 2 Marcus Armstrong 2 3 2 1 C C 10 1 4 1 3 NC 8 1 1 9 2 346 3 Lucas Auer 3 Ret 4 5 C C Ret 4 3 15 2 1 7 2 3 2 Ret 270 4 Raoul Hyman 4 2 3 11 C C 5 2 9 10 5 3 6 5 9 6 4 270 5 Esteban Muth 6 4 11 9 C C Ret 6 2 5 7 6 1 4 6 3 5 258 6 Brendon Leitch 5 1 9 8 C C 3 14 10 4 13 5 2 9 4 4 6 245 7 Cameron Das 9 6 7 4 C C Ret 7 5 3 15 10 5 8 7 1 Ret 205 8 Calan Williams 11 7 8 7 C C Ret 8 8 7 8 8 9 7 5 7 Ret 183 9 Artem Petrov 10 Ret 6 3 C C 1 Ret 7 2 4 4 4 Ret DNS DNS Ret 181 10 Kazuto Kotaka 8 Ret 10 6 C C 11 9 6 6 9 15 10 6 Ret 10 3 176 11 Petr Ptáček 7 8 5 12 C C 2 Ret 11 12 14 7 11 Ret Ret 12 Ret 123 12 Jackson Walls 13 C C 8 5 Ret 8 6 13 12 10 10 Ret Ret 110 13 Dev Gore 14 9 13 10 C C 4 13 14 14 12 9 14 12 11 Ret Ret 109 14 Tommy Smith 15 12 12 14 C C 12 11 12 9 11 14 13 13 14 8 Ret 101 15 Parker Locke 13 11 14 15 C C 9 12 15 11 16 12 15 Ret 12 11 7 100 16 Petru Florescu 12 10 Ret Ret C C 6 10 13 13 10 11 Ret 11 8 Ret DNS 98 17 Ken Smith 13 13 8 27 Pos. Driver HIG TER HMP TAU MAN PointsBold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap Rookie

Footnotes

References