Christchurch driver James Munro handed in another impressive performance at Round 3 of the Toyota Racing Series at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell at the weekend.
Munro, who turned seventeen just last Monday, finished third overall after the three races at Highlands and has now closed in on the lead of the championship.
The Christs College student struggled to put a good lap together in qualifying on his first visit to the circuit, but once again in the first race of the weekend on Saturday afternoon managed to pick off several others in his DJ Hewitt Builders TRS car moving up to sixth place at the finish.
Two races followed on Sunday and both were held in wet conditions. In the first, James did a fine job running in second place early on until an incident under safety car conditions when a car spun and repassed him and caused confusion before James lost a few places on the safety car restart. Munro eventually crossed the line sixth before being promoted to fifth when the driver who passed him under safety car was penalised.
The final race saw another superb drive after the engine of the car cut out as Munro rolled up to the grid for the start of the race. Consequently he was consigned to the back of the twenty-three car grid. In the wet conditions he then produced a stunning drive as he cut his way back through the talented field to cross the line in fifth place.
Three strong results in this extremely competitive series were enough to see Munro on the podium for the second weekend running and continue his fine performances in his rookie season at this level.
“I didn’t quite get it together in qualifying and I was disappointed with that but I am reasonably happy with the weekend overall,” said Munro as he reflected on another top result on Sunday afternoon.
Round 4 of the series takes place at Hampton Downs, North Waikato, next weekend.
