Nick Cassidy has fought through opening-lap chaos to win the first race of the Toyota Racing Series at Timaru, where the second round of the 2012 championship is under way.
An elated Cassidy says victory – and the shared championship lead that comes with it - is “a huge relief”.
Having fought through and overtaken pole-man Hannes van Asseldonk on the opening lap – all while fending off the attentions of Southland driver Damon Leitch, Cassidy says the series is looking “very positive”.
“It’s lifted the monkey off my back, for sure. It’s always good to get the first win under your belt,” he said afterward.
The start of the race was chaotic, Bruno Bonifacio stalling on the front row of the grid as the lights turned green and bringing the crowd to their feet as racers threaded around his car and off into the first corner.
Cassidy, Leitch and Felix Serralles swarmed van Asseldonk, who was forced to give up his lead as the field headed onto the back straight.
As the safety car came out onto the circuit Leitch, Cassidy and Serralles had all got in front of van Asseldonk, who was fighting off Josh Hill. Moments later as the circuit went “green” and racing resumed, the fight for the lead was between Cassidy and Leitch, resolved in Cassidy’s favour.
Leitch spent several laps clawing his way back onto the rear of Cassidy’s car but couldn’t get close enough to overtake.
Serralles found himself under pressure from a charging Josh Hill, who had also overtaken van Asseldonk. Hill overtook Serralles and closed on the leading two. Leitch was pre-occupied with trying to get a clear run at Cassidy and the pair were visibly slowing. Hill got closer to the two, and made one bold overtaking on Leitch move down the back straight, then opted to consolidate his placing.
Felix Serralles held on for a strong fourth overall, 2.39 seconds behind Cassidy but a half second clear of van Asseldonk.
The feature race of the second round is the Timaru Herald Trophy, raced over 20 laps on Sunday.
See also
- Van Asseldonk on pole for TRS in Timaru
- Bob's Blog: 'Come a hot Friday'
Results
Qualifying
1 16 Hannes van Asseldonk 57.45
2 5 Bruno Bonifacio 57.703
3 2 Nick Cassidy 57.834
4 87 Damon Leitch 57.887
5 6 Felix Serralles 57.895
6 10 Josh Hill 57.908
7 15 Lucas Auer 57.942
8 42 Jordan King 58.124
9 53 Raffaele Marciello 58.227
10 7 Jono Lester 58.302
11 20 Dmitry Suranovich 58.388
12 52 Nathanael Berthon 58.468
13 9 Victor Sendin 58.472
14 4 Chris Vlok 58.552
15 11 Shahaan Engineer 58.762
16 43 Tanart Sathienthirakul 58.855
17 8 Melvin Moh 59.077
18 88 Michela Cerruti 59.624
19 51 Sheban Siddiqi 60.699
Race 1 (12 laps)
1 2 Nick Cassidy
2 87 Damon Leitch
3 10 Josh Hill
4 6 Felix Serralles
5 16 Hannes van Asseldonk
6 15 Lucas Auer
7 42 Jordan King
8 7 Jono Lester
9 52 Nathanael Berthon
10 53 Raffaele Marciello
11 11 Shahaan Engineer
12 20 Dmitry Suranovich
13 9 Victor Sendin
14 8 Melvin Moh
15 43 Tanart Sathienthirakul
16 4 Chris Vlok
17 88 Michela Cerruti
18 51 Sheban Siddiqi
Not classified (75% = 9 Laps)
19 5 Bruno Bonifacio
