Lucas Auer lost then regained the lead in the Toyota Racing Series in two hard-fought races at Timaru today.
In spite of his success the Austrian – 18-year-old nephew of former Formula One star Gerhard Berger – ended the day feeling a little frustrated because he had not quite been able to win the feature race, the Timaru Herald Trophy.
He spent the whole race chasing English driver Alex Lynn, getting very close at times but never quite able to pull off the pass that would give him victory.
“I made a not good enough start,” Auer, who had started on pole, said.
“He won the start and that’s it – it was just difficult to overtake.”
Lynn admitted that he had been in defensive mode for most of his first victory in this year’s series.
“I think he [Auer] had two or three tenths of a second on the whole field, to be honest,” he said.
“I made a lot of mistakes due to the pressure but my defensive game was up to it.”
It was a great comeback after his huge crash at Invercargill last weekend. He said the crash effects were not causing him any pain.
Puerto Rican driver Felix Serralles won today’s preliminary race after starting from pole, which gave him back the lead in the championship after losing it in Auer’s victory yesterday.
Serralles, who came third in the important British F3 championship last year, claimed third in the feature race to remain a close second overall.
At one point he was passed by Brazilian driver Bruno Bonifacio – “He nearly crashed into me,” Serralles said – but he regained the final podium place when Bonifacio’s engine stopped.
Kiwi Nick Cassidy, the reigning champion, holds third place in the championship after scoring a third and a seventh today. He was handicapped by starting the final race from eighth on the grid after problems in qualifying.
Australian V8 Supercar driver Jason Bargwanna increased his lead in the NZV8 championship from one point to two as he won today’s first race but limped home with a mechanical problem in the final heat, finishing third of the new-generation cars.
Hamilton’s Martin Short took the last race in his Toyota Camry and led much of race two before the Australian struck late in the race.
“He made a small mistake and went wide, and I was able to get alongside him going into the hairpin,” Bargwanna said.
Teenage brothers AJ and Brad Lauder from Turua made it a sibling double as they finished first and second respectively in the final NZV8 race, in the Gold Star championship category for the original cars. AJ leads this series with Brad third.
On his 16th birthday Christchurch racer James Munro won both Formula Ford races in fine style, very fast on cold tyres in the opening laps.
“I got good starts and went hard for the first couple of laps to get a gap,” Munro said. “It’s a good way to celebrate my birthday.”
Troy Wheeler from Clevedon won today’s Super Trucks championship race, a handicap event, in his Scania but Australian Steve Zammit maintained his series lead with a close second to add to his win and second yesterday.
