British motorsport prodigy Josh Hill played a starring role for ETEC Motorsport at round three of the 2012 Toyota Racing Series at Taupo Motorsport Park this weekend.
The 21-year old BRDC Rising Star took advantage of a third place qualifying effort – just 2/100ths off the pole position time – to score a second place finish in the opening race behind countryman Jordan King, following up with another second in the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy feature race on Sunday afternoon.
The only blip on Hill’s radar was an uncharacteristic spin late in the second race when running in the front bunch of cars.
Local driver Jono Lester hoped Taupo would bring more podium finishes in his debut Toyota Racing Series season, however the Porsche racing ex-pat struggled in qualifying which saw him start outside of the top ten in all three races, picking up spots in each for two top tens, but clearly disappointed with the outing as a whole.
Lester fared better than some of his team mates, however. Malaysian Melvin Moh only took the start of the last race of the weekend after a driveshaft and gearbox failure put him out of the opening two races before they started.
Frenchman Victor Sendin didn’t have the last round in the TRS that he hoped for, spinning out of contention in race one and suffering front wing damage in race two, while Shahaan Engineer of India was consistent in his results, including a top 10 finish in the second race.
Sendin now returns to France to complete contractual obligations for his debut European season in Formula Renault 1.4.
“Taupo challenged the team and drivers with changing track and weather conditions,” explained Team Principal Trevor Sheumack.
“It’s the most technically demanding circuit on the calendar and while a few of our rookie drivers are a little disappointed with their efforts, there were significant gains made in tuning and understanding of the TRS cars.
“That should rightfully put them in good stead for a strong end to the championship at Hampton Downs and Manfeild.”
Testing resumes for the Toyota Racing Series at Hampton Downs on Thursday with three 30-minute sessions, before Official Practice on Friday; and a qualifying session and three races over the weekend.
The ETEC Motorsport team, and the entire Toyota Racing Series field of 19 local and international drivers, compete using MICHELIN racing tyres.
See also
- Cassidy retains TRS lead after round three at Taupo
