Austrian racer Lucas Auer won the first race of the 2013 Toyota Racing Series in Teretonga near Invercargill yesterday (Saturday), throwing down his title challenge to 2012 champion Nick Cassidy of Auckland.

Auer led from pole, Cassidy overtaking British racer Alex Lynn in the first laps to be second. The Teretonga race lap record of 54.611 has stood since 2008 but was shattered by the flying Auer, who posted a best of 54.211 for the 2.62 km lap.

The Austrian racer (pictured during qualifying for the feature race on Sunday) dictated the pace at will, building a lead of more than four seconds as the race progressed. Though Cassidy managed to close in on Auer in the final few laps he was not able to challenge for the lead and was happy to take useful championship points for second place.

The nephew of Formula One great Gerhard Berger, Auer took dual poles at Teretonga in 2012 TRS but crashed out in wet conditions on the first corner of the first race. He said after this year’s win he was very happy to have put the 2012 crash behind him “butthere are more races yet so I will wait until the end of the weekend before I ring Uncle Gerhard to report!”

The Toyota Racing Series cars are back on track tomorrow morning and afternoon, with Auer starting off sixth position for the second race under a marble draw reverse grid. There is an all-Brazilian front row for that race – Pipo Derani has pole for that race with TRS graduate Bruno Bonifacio alongside him.

Auer starts the afternoon’s feature race for the Spirit of a Nation Cup from fifth on the grid.

Puerto Rican racer – and 2012 TRS graduate – Felix Serralles has pole for that event.