After a season that brought both career highs and extreme lows for Hamilton’s Shaun Lawrence, it’s already a much brighter outlook for the 2011/12 Suzuki Swift Sport Cup as he readies himself for the rapidly approaching season.
Major sponsor Liquorland, along with the entire family of supporters from Lawrence’s last season, have confirmed their continued support for the coming season. Shaun Lawrence Racing are also extremely pleased to announce that Opus International and Hamilton business Automotive Technicians have also come on board to support their bid win the Championship outright for a first time.
Last season began in the worst possible manner, with Lawrence completely destroying his car in the very first race of the Championship at Pukekohe Raceway. Irrespective of the expense involved with purchasing a suitable replacement, Lawrence’s commitment to his sponsors was ultimately rewarded later in the season with the teams first podium, then soon after picking up their first ever race win.
“It was just such a crazy year” explains a reflective Lawrence. “We were just emotionally shattered after the crash, but we’d made commitments to our sponsors and had every intention of honouring them. Dad (Kiwi motor racing legend Graeme Lawrence) was fantastic and kept me really focused, and once we’d gone through the pain of funding a new car we really just had to keep pushing on. The win really was a reward to everyone who had stuck by us” he added.
Lawrence’s off-season has seen a major focus on personal fitness, something he found to be invaluable throughout last season. As the Championship is run throughout the hottest months of the year, the shear heat generated inside the cars causes dehydration which culminates in a drop in concentration levels, and Lawrence isn’t taking any chances! He recently competed in the “Tough Man Challenge” in Rotorua where he finished inside the top 25 percent of the field in his first ever attempt.
“This year we’ve basically come up with a list of things that we know we have to do to be consistently fast. It’s a case of making sure that every box is ticked, and with that done there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to run at the front” explains Lawrence.
The team take to the track shortly to begin pre-season testing as the car has had a full mechanical rebuild in preparation for the season ahead. The focus for the Championship has never been so great, and you can be sure that the Liquorland Suzuki Swift of Shaun Lawrence Racing will be a regular feature of the 2011/12 Suzuki Swift Sport Cup.
