After a rookie season that has seen a combination of personal goals met and surpassed, mixed with the disappointment of having race wins slip from his grasp, Hamilton’s Shaun Lawrence is looking to finish the 2009/10 Suzuki Swift Sport Cup on a positive note at this weekends final round on the Taupo International Motorsport Park.
Lawrence’s goal at the start of the year was to finish inside the top five for the season, a goal he was well on the way to fulfilling until a string of “off-track” excursions put pay to his points haul, and barring a string of race wins this weekend, will see him finish just outside that goal.
That aside, the focus is still very much on the Teams Points, and Lawrence along with AJ Lauder are sitting in fourth overall heading into this weekend, and are looking at cementing that place, if not improve on it.
“Man, it’s been an amazing season!” explains Lawrence. “Looking back we’ve done some outstanding things with the car, managed to get it handling great at each of the circuits, and even scored a few podiums. I’ve also taken a few hits (from others) along with making my own mistakes over the last couple of rounds. It gets pretty frustrating at times I can tell you” he went on to add.
Irrespective of this weekend’s outcome, one thing is for sure. Lawrence has clearly shown that he will be a force to be reckoned with next season, particularly now that the team has the circuit and car setup knowledge that they lacked at the start of this season.
The Suzuki Swift Sport Cup has also been confirmed as a support class for the rapidly approaching Hamilton 400, although it’s not a round of the championship proper, something that Lawrence sees as a great leveller for the class as the Suzuki’s have never raced on the tight street circuit previously.
“It’ll be great, and I suspect there might even be a few new names up at the pointy end of the field” commented Lawrence. “It’s a real unknown and there are always people in classes that go really well on street circuits as opposed to the purpose built tracks. No one has any set up knowledge either, so I’m picking it’ll be a doozy!” he later added with a wry smile on his face.
Shaun would like to once again acknowledge his loyal sponsors, Kea Trailers, JPS Media, Aegis Oils, Craig Howser Panel & Performance, Biz Tech, 4-Guys Autobarn, Liquorland and Virtual Print.
