Impressive young Christchurch driver, James Munro, endured a tough weekend as Round 4 of the Toyota Racing Series played out at Hampton Downs in North Waikato this weekend. However he remains sixth in the point standings in this very competitive championship in his rookie season with one round to go.
“It was a tough weekend,” said James as he reflected on the round after the final race on Sunday afternoon. “I learned a lot though. You are able to learn a lot more at these ones. I didn’t quite put it together in qualifying,” he said. “I tried something different in the first session and then changed back in the second.”
James was just .616 of a second off the fastest time in the first session although such is the quality of the field that he was fifteenth fastest. He backed that up with seventh in the next. “I was hoping for better,” he said later.
In the first race on Saturday afternoon James was quickly on the move, working his way through the field before eventually finishing eighth. The following morning he again worked his way up the field running strongly only to lose time in an incident on the last lap. He limped across the line in the DJ Hewitt Builders car in fifteenth place.
In the final race James made a slow start and lost ground. He made up a few places but got caught in a train of cars and as he explained later the Hampton Downs circuit is a particularly tough one to pass on. “You have to work really hard to make opportunities here,” he said. However an eighth place was a good result and keeps James in a very creditable sixth in the championship.
The fifth and final round of the series takes place at Manfeild Park, Feilding next weekend where the feature race will be the New Zealand Grand Prix.
