2017 Hampton Downs TRS round

The 2017 Hampton Downs TRS round was the third round of the 2017 Toyota Racing Series. The event was held at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, in North Waikato, New Zealand from 28 to 29 January 2017.

Race details
Date	28–29 January 2017
Official name	Hampton Downs TRS round
Location	Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, North Waikato
Course	Permanent road course 2.570 km (1.597 mi)
Overall results
Podium
First	Pedro Piquet	M2 Competition
Second	Thomas Randle	Victory Motor Racing
Third	Enaam Ahmed	Giles Motorsport

Background

Heading into the weekend, Richard Verschoor leads the championship by an extensive margin. Strong, consistent performances from the young Dutchman meant he was the man to beat. Other strong performances in the field included the likes of Thomas Randle, who was a constant front runner in the first two rounds of the championship.

Report

Practice

Thomas Randle demonstrated his pace early on by taking out four out of the five practice sessions and broke the track record in the process. Pedro Piquet took out the second practice session, narrowly beating out Randle.

Session	Day	Fastest lap
		No.	Driver	Team	Time
Practice 1	Thursday	49	Thomas Randle	Victory Motor Racing	1:00.975
Practice 2		5	Pedro Piquet	M2 Competition	1:00.561
Practice 3	Friday	49	Thomas Randle	Victory Motor Racing	1:00.361
Practice 4		49	Thomas Randle	Victory Motor Racing	1:00.393
Practice 5		49	Thomas Randle	Victory Motor Racing	1:00.109

Race 1

Qualifying

Randle dominated qualifying by taking pole position by nearly two-tenths of a second over Jehan Daruvala. They were followed by Armstrong, Leitch and Piquet.

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Lap	Grid
1	49	Thomas Randle	Victory Motor Racing	0:59.636	1
2	9	Jehan Daruvala	M2 Competition	0:59.801	2
3	8	Marcus Armstrong	M2 Competition	0:59.846	3
4	3	Brendon Leitch	Victory Motor Racing	0:59.944	4
5	5	Pedro Piquet	M2 Competition	0:59.983	5
6	62	Ferdinand Habsburg	M2 Competition	1:00.055	6
7	22	Richard Verschoor	Giles Motorsport	1:00.147	7
8	83	Kami Laliberté	M2 Competition	1:00.164	8
9	65	Enaam Ahmed	Giles Motorsport	1:00.284	9
10	26	Harry Hayek	Giles Motorsport	1:00.302	10
11	96	Luis Leeds	Giles Motorsport	1:00.337	11
12	11	Taylor Cockerton	MTEC Motorsport	1:00.408	12
13	47	Keyvan Andres Soori	Giles Motorsport	1:00.502	13
14	24	Ameya Vaidyanathan	MTEC Motorsport	1:00.532	14
15	12	Christian Hahn	Giles Motorsport	1:00.532	15
16	10	Thomas Neubauer	MTEC Motorsport	1:00.626	16
17	80	Nikita Lastochkin	Victory Motor Racing	1:00.634	17
18	51	Shelby Blackstock	Victory Motor Racing	1:00.684	18
19	33	Kory Enders	MTEC Motorsport	1:00.726	19
20	27	Jean Baptiste Simmenauer	M2 Competition	1:00.900	20
Source(s):

Race

After a chaotic start which saw Leitch and Daruvala tumbling down the order, Marcus Armstrong came through to win his second race of the year. An early red flag saw the race restarted with a shortened distance. After losing out the lead,

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Grid
1	8	Marcus Armstrong	M2 Competition	15	16min 34.701sec	3
2	5	Pedro Piquet	M2 Competition	15	+ 0.334 s	5
3	49	Thomas Randle	Victory Motor Racing	15	+ 0.677 s	1
4	22	Richard Verschoor	Giles Motorsport	15	+ 4.457 s	7
5	65	Enaam Ahmed	Giles Motorsport	15	+ 4.972 s	9
6	24	Ameya Vaidyanathan	MTEC Motorsport	15	+ 5.756 s	14
7	83	Kami Laliberté	M2 Competition	15	+ 8.838 s	8
8	11	Taylor Cockerton	MTEC Motorsport	15	+ 9.100 s	12
9	62	Ferdinand Habsburg	M2 Competition	15	+ 9.500 s	6
10	47	Keyvan Andres Soori	Giles Motorsport	15	+ 15.261 s	13
11	51	Shelby Blackstock	Victory Motor Racing	15	+ 15.537 s	18
12	3	Brendon Leitch	Victory Motor Racing	15	+ 17.748 s	4
13	96	Luis Leeds	Giles Motorsport	15	+ 19.435 s	11
14	9	Jehan Daruvala	M2 Competition	15	+ 19.604 s	2
15	26	Harry Hayek	Giles Motorsport	15	+ 24.979 s	10
16	33	Kory Enders	MTEC Motorsport	15	+ 24.993 s	19
17	27	Jean Baptiste Simmenauer	M2 Competition	15	+ 29.430 s	20
18	12	Christian Hahn	Giles Motorsport	14	+ 1 lap	15
Ret	80	Nikita Lastochkin	Victory Motor Racing	0	Retired	17
Ret	10	Thomas Neubauer	MTEC Motorsport	0	Retired	16
Fastest Lap: Thomas Randle (Victory Motor Racing) – 1:00.694
Source(s):

Race 2

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Grid
1	65	Enaam Ahmed	Giles Motorsport	15	16min sec
2	22	Richard Verschoor	Giles Motorsport	15	+ 2.436 s
3	5	Pedro Piquet	M2 Competition	15	+ 3.661 s
4	8	Marcus Armstrong	M2 Competition	15	+ 6.128 s
5	24	Ameya Vaidyanathan	MTEC Motorsport	15	+ 11.686 s
6	83	Kami Laliberté	M2 Competition	15	+ 12.064 s
7	49	Thomas Randle	Victory Motor Racing	15	+ 12.900 s
8	9	Jehan Daruvala	M2 Competition	15	+ 14.900 s
9	11	Taylor Cockerton	MTEC Motorsport	15	+ 16.407 s
10	62	Ferdinand Habsburg	M2 Competition	15	+ 16.493 s
11	26	Harry Hayek	Giles Motorsport	15	+ 17.178 s
12	47	Keyvan Andres Soori	Giles Motorsport	15	+ 23.410 s
13	51	Shelby Blackstock	Victory Motor Racing	15	+ 23.710 s
14	33	Kory Enders	MTEC Motorsport	15	+ 23.809 s
15	10	Thomas Neubauer	MTEC Motorsport	15	+ 26.252 s
16	3	Brendon Leitch	Victory Motor Racing	15	+ 26.641 s
17	27	Jean Baptiste Simmenauer	M2 Competition	15	+ 30.953 s
18	12	Christian Hahn	Giles Motorsport	15	+ 36.576 s
19	96	Luis Leeds	Giles Motorsport	14	+ 1 lap
Ret	80	Nikita Lastochkin	Victory Motor Racing	2	Retired
Fastest Lap: Enaam Ahmed (Giles Motorsport) – 0:59.636
Source(s):

Race 3

Qualifying

Randle once again snatched pole position, though this time with a narrow margin over Daruvala. They were followed by Piquet, Verschoor and Armstrong.

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Lap	Grid
1	49	Thomas Randle	Victory Motor Racing	0:59.333	1
2	9	Jehan Daruvala	M2 Competition	0:59.402	2
3	5	Pedro Piquet	M2 Competition	0:59.467	3
4	22	Richard Verschoor	Giles Motorsport	0:59.624	4
5	8	Marcus Armstrong	M2 Competition	0:59.770	5
6	62	Ferdinand Habsburg	M2 Competition	0:59.846	6
7	83	Kami Laliberté	M2 Competition	0:59.852	7
8	65	Enaam Ahmed	Giles Motorsport	0:59.872	8
9	96	Luis Leeds	Giles Motorsport	0:59.908	9
10	11	Taylor Cockerton	MTEC Motorsport	0:59.949	10
11	26	Harry Hayek	Giles Motorsport	1:00.064	11
12	24	Ameya Vaidyanathan	MTEC Motorsport	1:00.072	12
13	3	Brendon Leitch	Victory Motor Racing	1:00.073	13
14	12	Christian Hahn	Giles Motorsport	1:00.085	14
15	47	Keyvan Andres Soori	Giles Motorsport	1:00.184	15
16	80	Nikita Lastochkin	Victory Motor Racing	1:00.197	16
17	51	Shelby Blackstock	Victory Motor Racing	1:00.238	17
18	33	Kory Enders	MTEC Motorsport	1:00.294	18
19	10	Thomas Neubauer	MTEC Motorsport	1:00.325	19
20	27	Jean Baptiste Simmenauer	M2 Competition	1:00.565	20
Source(s):

Race

After a chaotic start which saw Leitch and Daruvala tumbling down the order, Marcus Armstrong came through to win his second race of the year. An early red flag saw the race restarted with a shortened distance. After losing out the lead,

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Grid
1	49	Thomas Randle	Victory Motor Racing	20	24min 37.172sec
2	62	Ferdinand Habsburg	M2 Competition	20	+ 3.362 s
3	9	Jehan Daruvala	M2 Competition	20	+ 4.751 s
4	83	Kami Laliberté	M2 Competition	20	+ 6.154 s
5	5	Pedro Piquet	M2 Competition	20	+ 7.554 s
6	96	Luis Leeds	Giles Motorsport	20	+ 8.584 s
7	11	Taylor Cockerton	MTEC Motorsport	20	+ 10.503 s
8	26	Harry Hayek	Giles Motorsport	20	+ 10.765 s
9	12	Christian Hahn	Giles Motorsport	20	+ 11.276 s
10	65	Enaam Ahmed	Giles Motorsport	20	+ 11.833 s
11	80	Nikita Lastochkin	Victory Motor Racing	20	+ 12.352 s
12	22	Richard Verschoor	Giles Motorsport	20	+ 12.879 s
13	51	Shelby Blackstock	Victory Motor Racing	20	+ 14.316 s
14	47	Keyvan Andres Soori	Giles Motorsport	20	+ 14.316 s
15	10	Thomas Neubauer	MTEC Motorsport	20	+ 19.373 s
16	27	Jean Baptiste Simmenauer	M2 Competition	20	+ 20.345 s
17	33	Kory Enders	MTEC Motorsport	17	+ 3 laps
18	3	Brendon Leitch	Victory Motor Racing	15	+ 5 laps
Ret	8	Marcus Armstrong	M2 Competition	7	Retired
Ret	24	Ameya Vaidyanathan	MTEC Motorsport	1	Retired
Fastest Lap: Thomas Randle (Victory Motor Racing) – 01:00.526
Source(s):