Aucklander Nick Cassidy is readying to challenge the international drivers who dominated the opening round of the 2013 Toyota Racing Series.

Cassidy, 18, was fastest in both rainswept test sessions for the TRS championship cars at Timaru today. He has switched teams this year to run with M2 Competition after taking his championship in a car run by Giles Motorsport.

Puerto Rican driver Félix Serrallés took an early points lead after three closely fought races at Teretonga near Invercargill last weekend, heading home a clean sweep of top positions for international drivers. Serrallés was fourth and second in the initial races at Teretonga before sealing his weekend with victory in the feature race to amass a championship points tally of 196.

Just five points behind him and with a race win to his credit is Austrian Lucas Auer (191). Brazilian Pipo Derani is third on 169 points after a fifth in the first race, victory in the second race and fifth in the feature race.

Cassidy, with second, fourth and eighth at Teretonga, is fourth on 160 and well placed to seize control. A race win in the series is worth 75 points; second 67, third 60.

Another driver who has strong championship form but has not had a chance to show his true pace is Alex Lynn (UK).

Lynn, who contested the 2011 championship, had scored a pair of third places in the initial races last weekend and was challenging for the lead in the feature race when he crashed spectacularly at more than 200 km/h, the impact shooting the car’s built-in g-force sensors off the top of their range.

A week later, “a little bit sore” but otherwise unscathed, Lynn was third fastest in the initial dry-wet test session.

Invercargill’s Damon Leitch, who led the series at this point last year, was fourth in the first session and tenth in the full-wet second session.

Top rookie was UK racer Jann Mardenborough, tenth in the mixed dry-wet session one and then eighth in the second session.

As TRS enters its ninth season, organisers say the championship has been a stand out success, offering many young New Zealand racing drivers the opportunity to learn the skills necessary to compete at the highest levels of motorsport around the world. Young international drivers come to New Zealand to race TRS to hone their skills on unfamiliar tracks while their European tracks are closed for winter.

The Toyota Racing Series has propelled many local and overseas drivers into single-seater careers in the past eight years, but the series has not yet been won by an international driver.

The Toyota Racing Series cars are back on track for test sessions at 10.30 am, 1.30 pm and 3 pm tomorrow. Qualifying sessions are held on Saturday morning at 11.30 and 11.50 am; races are at 3 pm on Saturday, 11 am Sunday and the feature race for the Timaru Herald Trophy over 20 laps is at 3pm on Sunday

The 2013 Toyota Racing Series will be televised on SKY and Prime TV in New Zealand, on Speed TV in Australia and Speed Channel in the USA, and to a further 39 countries on the Motors TV network in Europe.