Two fast young Kiwis are expected to battle out the New Zealand Grand Prix at Manfeild on Sunday, ahead of 15 overseas drivers.
Mitch Evans is back from a season racing GP3 in Europe with backing from Formula One star Mark Webber, while fellow Aucklander Nick Cassidy comes to Manfeild with a big lead in the Toyota Racing Series, of which the GP will be the final race.
Evans won races in GP3, which is a support category for Formula One and is seen as two steps down from the top. That high-level experience has paid dividends, he says.
“Every time you’re in a car you learn something,” Evans says. “I learnt bucket-loads technically and that’s made me better at passing information on to engineers. I’m just better overall, to be honest.”
Bearing in mind that Evans won the 2011 GP and has two TRS titles to his credit, that should make him the firm favourite.
But his friend Cassidy has been in hot form this season and last weekend at Hampton Downs they each won a race.
“It gives me a little bit of confidence from last weekend and hopefully we can carry it on,” Cassidy says.
But Cassidy, who hopes his success will help him land a good drive overseas this year, emphasises that he does not see Evans as his only real opposition.
“I think there are 10 or 12 guys that are very fast,” Cassidy says. “If you win the Grand Prix it means you’ve done a very good job against these strong guys.”
The contingent of fast and hungry internationals includes former F1 champion Damon Hill’s son Josh from Britain , Ferrari protege Raffaele Marciello from Italy , former F1 race-winner Gerhard Berger’s nephew Lucas Auer from Austria , and Dutchman Hannes van Asseldonk who stands second in the series.
The historic Grand Prix race – it goes back more than 60 years -- is run over 35 laps, which means drivers need to be very fit and they need to look after their tyres. Going too hard too early could make the tyres deteriorate later on.
Evans could be the fittest driver there, thanks to his training with Webber. Last month he spent a week in Australia at a tough boot camp with his mentor.
Evans is not in contention for the series title, as he skipped the first three rounds. Invercargill driver Damon Leitch stands third, ahead of Hill and fellow Brit Jordan King.
NZ V8s
The meeting is also the penultimate round of the BNT New Zealand V8s, with perennial contender Angus Fogg holding a useful lead over Australian V8 Supercar driver Jason Bargwanna.
Fogg says he is taking nothing for granted as he chases down the title that has eluded him since he entered V8s in 2003.
“There have been comments that it will be a cake walk, but in reality with six races still to go anything can happen, and probably will,” he says.
Tim Edgell holds third and new star Martin Short fourth, with the top four all in Ford Falcons.
Holden fans have had a lean time this season, although Nick Ross has put in some good drives in his Commodore, but now reinforcements join the fray.
The experienced Andrew Anderson should be a front-runner in his Holden, and Phil Blythe, Ross Cameron, Bronson Porter and Steve Taylor are all in Commodores too.
The TRS cars and the V8s have one race on Saturday and two on Sunday.
