DownLow_Iss04

The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

3 Drivers

for 1 Crown

Robert Shwartzman scored his first win of the season and closed the
gap to Marcus Armstrong to 33 points. Richard Verschoor is 3rd at 60
points from the lead.

Issue 04—February 2018

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The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

Content

Stories of Round 04

Bob McMurray, Toyota Racing New Zealand Am-
bassador, tells us the stories from the Paddock.

Behind the Scene

Meet with Mo Larsen, the oldest mechanic in
the Castrol Toyota Racing Series.

Behind the Scene

Meet with the MTEC Motorsport Crew.

Round 04 Results

Points and Standings after Round 04.

Trophy and Track

All about Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park
and the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy.

Meet and Greet with...

James Pull and M2 Competition celebrat-
ing its 6th Team Championship in Taupo.

Best Shot of the Week

Bruce Jenkins, Official Castrol Toyota
Series Photographer, provides his best
Shots of the Week.

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The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

Stories of U

Bob McMurray, Toyota Racing New Zealand Ambassado

~ Thursday ~

Keen observers will notice that the name of Calvin Ming does not appear
on the time sheets.

Calvin's contract was only for the first three rounds of the series and he
has now departed these shores to concentrate on his American future.
Not before vowing to return to the series in 2019 though.

~ Friday ~

First order of the day, after actually getting out of bed and then complet-
ing all the associated essentials, was breakfast, closely followed by the TRS
drivers briefing.

In the absence of Daniel Gaunt, driving in the Bathurst 12 hour race over
this weekend, Chris Pither has stepped into the role of 'Driving Standards Of-
ficer' and gave his view to the drivers on some of the incidents that happened
at last week’s Hampton Downs event.

He is following a similarly consistent line on standards as Daniel which is
good news to the drivers who, like every sport that has any form of judge, ref-
eree or umpire, demand consistency of officiating.

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The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

Uncle Bob

or, tells us the stories from the Paddock during the Race

~ Saturday ~ ~ Sunday ~

Race 1 Race 2

Juan Manuel Correa dominated Excellent racing all the way
the race and extended his lead with down the grid once again with Kiwi
almost every lap as those behind, Brendon Leitch, on pole for this re-
led by James Pull, battled between verse top eight grid, getting away
themselves. beautifully when the red lights went
out. To say he dominated the race is
Richard Verschoor had a tardy something of an under exaggeration,
start and dropped to third on the if there is such a phrase. He simply
first lap, first corner and despite cleared out and by the end of the
locking his brakes regularly, dodging race his lead, after he backed off
inside and out, could not get the slightly, was up to 15 seconds.
better of Pull. Anytime Verschoor
made an attempt to pass he lost He was on some pretty new
ground on Pull and then Shwartzman tyres, if not brand new, as he and
was right on his tail with Armstrong the team thought that was the best
as the rear gunner to this scrapping option to get a race win. As most of
quartet. the teams were saving fresher sets
for the final race Victory thought
Behind Harker the Kiwi fight that from Brendon's grid position for
between Yardley and Leitch was just race #3, it would have been a waste
as intense but rookie Yardley did a to save them for that. So he walked
masterful job in being on exactly the it and that is good news for him and
part of the track that Leitch needed a real morale booster for both him
to try and get past. Clement Nova- and his team, Victory Motor Racing.
lak, with his three place grid penalty
an anchor to his race, had a disap- In second place was rookie
pointing, and by his standards lack- Ryan Yardley and once again, as he
lustre, race mired behind Taylor did yesterday, he fought hard to
Cockerton with Milesi bringing up the keep some vastly more experienced
rear. Some very good battles all the and, it has to be said, faster guys
way through the pack. behind him. He drove well, with con-
fidence and accuracy, and has really
With the winners trophies be- come alive in the TRS here at Taupo.
ing presented by Andrea Waddell,
the Commercial Area Sales Manager Richard Verschoor, in third,
for Castrol, the task of picking the harried Yardley for all he was worth
marble out of the hat to determine but Yardley did not put a foot wrong
the make up at the front of the grid despite some desperate lunges by
was performed by Juan Manuel Cor- Verschoor, locking brakes regularly.
rea. Despite his pleas and desper- In turn Armstrong, Shwartzman,
ately encouraging cries for a "#4" he with a charging Taylor Cockerton be-
managed to pick out the #8 marble hind him were dodging and diving,
thereby consigning himself to the inside and out with race and champi-
fourth row of the grid. The others on onship points in mind.
the podium were not overly happy
either.

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The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

Behind th

Age no barrier to oldest mech

Mo Larsen is a great ad- TRS circuit, working with the year-old. She organises Victo-
vertisement for being as Nelson based Victory Motor ry’s logistics, makes sure eve-
young as you feel. Racing. rybody knows what is happen-
ing when, looks after the
The 80-year-old is the Twelve months ago, he team’s social media and keeps
most senior mechanic in the took real pleasure in helping them fed.
pit lane for the five round prepare the car which Austral-
Castrol Toyota Racing Series ian Thomas Randle won the Mo’s first step in motor
which is at the Bruce McLaren championship in. “He was a racing was racing a Humber
Motorsport Park at Taupo this real racer,” said Mo. “He knew 80 in the early 1960’s against
weekend. what he had to do to win the the likes of Doc Langley and
title and really turned it on at Dennis Marwood. He had a
In a motorsport career the Grand Prix.” good example to follow, hav-
spanning more than 60 years, ing attended the same school
Mo (real name Maurice) has At Victory, he works at Pongakawa in the Bay of
worked in Britain, North alongside his daughter Teena, Plenty as 1967 Formula 1
America and New Zealand. who was the Canadian Formu- World Champion, Denny Hul-
This year is his fourth on the la 2000 champion as a 17- me.

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The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

he Scene

hanic in Toyota Racing Series

Like a lot of young young.” Formula Pacific years – and

Kiwis, he went to England in In the pits he sees part the son of Al Unser Jr.
1964 and then onto Canada of his role as mentoring the
before returning home in younger mechanics. In a varied career Mo al-
1972. It was back to Canada so worked for teams running
Formula Fords and Camaros
in 1978, where he has been In North America Mo in the Tranzam Champion-
ship.
based ever since. spent many years working in
Most recently he has
Indy Lights as a chief me- worked for Kiwi Motorsports
“I’m kind of retired now,” chanic, most notably for Bra- in Formula 4 in North Ameri-
Mo admits. “I come home to zilian Cristiano da Matta who
avoid the snow.”
won the title in 1998 and

But while he is physically went onto victory in the CART ca. That team was set up by

capable of working on race series and a drive in Formula daughter Teena and Gary Or-

cars he reckons he will keep One for Toyota. ton of the Victory team.

doing it. “I’m not on any He also spannered cars Mo has no intention of
medication, like a lot of other for Paul Tracey – who raced stopping either. “It keeps me
people my age. It keeps me in New Zealand during the going.”

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The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

Behind th

Meet with MTEC M

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The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

he Scene

Motorsport Crew

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The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

Round 04

Race 1 Race 2 Race 3

1. Juan Manuel Correa 1. Brendon Leitch 1. Robert Shwartzman

2. James Pull +4.111 2. Ryan Yardley +15.182 2. Marcus Armstrong +5.523

3. Richard Verschoor +4.609 3. Richard Verschoor +15.458 3. Richard Verschoor +12.752

4. Robert Shwartzman +4.900 4. Marcus Armstrong +17.027 4. Juan Manuel Correa +13.604

5. Marcus Armstrong +6.571 5. Robert Shwartzman +17.292 5. Brendon Leitch +21.211

6. Reid Harker +12.025 6. Taylor Cockerton +19.572 6. Cameron Das +24.275

7. Ryan Yardley +19.050 7. Reid Harker +20.016 7. James Pull +24.275

8. Brendon Leitch +19.338 8. James Pull +23.238 8. Charles Milesi +24.772

9. Taylor Cockerton +19.904 9. Juan Manuel Correa +23.539 9. Ryan Yardley +38.196

10. Clement Novalak +20.156 10. Clement Novalak +32.315 10. Taylor Cockerton +39.199

11. Charles Milesi +20.589 11. Cameron Das +44.182 11. Reid Harker +39.324

12. Cameron Das DNF 12. Charles Milesi +1 lap 12. Clement Novalak DNF

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The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

4 Results

Drivers Standings

1. Marcus Armstrong 761 pts Rookie Championship
2. Robert Shwartzman 728 pts
3. Richard Verschoor 701 pts 1. Clement Novalak (Giles) 539 pts
4. Juan Manuel Correa 612 pts 2. Reid Harker (Giles) 430 pts
5. James Pull 581 pts 3. Ryan Yardley (MTEC) 416 pts
6. Clement Novalak 539 pts 4. Calvin Ming (Victory) 320 pts
7. Brendon Leitch 456 pts
8. Taylor Cockerton 448 pts
9. Reid Harker 430 pts
10. Ryan Yardley 416 pts
11. Charles Milesi 386 pts
12. Cameron Das 326 pts
13. Calvin Ming 320 pts

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The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

Trophy &

Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy & Bruc

Denny Hulme
Memorial Trophy

The Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy race Lap
pays tribute to New Zealand's only Formula 1
world champion. However, the trophy itself Fastest Qualifying
has some history of its own. 1’22”146 : L.N

The trophy awarded this weekend in the Lap Record FT50
final race on Sunday has been awarded to 1’23”357 : J.D
many a Toyota Racing Series drive before,
but it has history. It is actually the last tro-
phy that Hulme won in the 1974 Argentine
Grand Prix in Buenos Aires.

That weekend Hulme started down in
10th but managed to win the 53 lap race, de-
feating the Ferraris of Niki Lauda and Clay
Regazzoni.

His family donated the trophy for use in
the TRS and it is now awarded annually at
the Taupo round, the track nearest to where
Denny was brought up at Pongakawa in the
Bay of Plenty and where he retired to at Lake
Rotoiti near Rotorua.

Anita Hulme, sister of Denny, presented
the trophy to Robert Shwarzman.

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The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

& Track

ce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupo

Record Bruce McLaren

g Lap FT50 Motorsport Park, Taupo
Norris (2016)
Situated beside New Zealand’s largest lake
Daruvala (2016) and volcanic crater, Taupo started life as a 1.4
km club track, originally built by the Taupo
13 Car Club.

A major upgrade in 2006 produced the 3.5
kms track which is now used. This work in
time to host the A1 GP series included safety
modifications to FIA Grade 2. The track
played host to New Zealand’s round of the A1
GP series for 4 years from 2006 to 2009.

The circuit was renamed Bruce McLaren
Motorsport Park in November 2015, as a trib-
ute to former Formula One driver and team
owner Bruce McLaren.

The track is owned and operated by MIT
Ltd, a private company, on land leased from
the Taupo District Council. Parts of the com-
plex are on land owned by subsidiary compa-
nies.

The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

Meet and Gr

James Pull #15
M2 Competition

18 years old

from Singapore

2017 British F3 Runner Up

What is your favourite social Sports outside racing ? would say the first time I’ve ever

Media Channel ? Zero sport. Just the gym to train driven a car, was a kart in fact, in
for racing, I had a tennis coach Singaore,a shitty rental karting but
I like Instagram, I’m a kind of vis- and a football coach but they told I immediately fell in love with it.
ual person. I prefer movies to

books my parents it was better if I would Favourite Track ?

What kind of music do you lis- do something else (laughs). Brands Hatch, it’s a good track

ten to? Favourite sport to watch ? and there is a lot of history in this

I like loads of kind of music, from I like boxing, they have an inter- track.

“Tropical” to “Hip Hop”. esting mentality approach and I If you could choose your ideal

Favorite Movie ? kind of admire that, they are good team mate, who would it be?
I like a lot Fantasy atheletes. It’s so cliché but I would say Sen-

Movie so I What would you have like to na. I admire his mentality, he
become if not a racing driver ? seems to be a nice person and I’m
would say Hunger Games.

Favorite Book ? It’s a difficult one. I don’t know if I sure I could have learnt a lot from
“The Witcher” by Andrzej would be good at, but something him.
Sapkow-

ski, related to movies like movie direc- Best advice ever received ?

Best non-racing game ? tor or actor. Can I give you two ? (laughs).

I’m a gamer, there are so many What is the perfect country to “Never give up” and “Focus on the
good ones to chose from, too diffi- live ? present, you can’t change the past

cult. I have been in a lot of places al- and the future is unknown”. Actu-
Left Handed or Right Handed ? ready. I would love to live in ally I will give you three : “You on-
Right handed. America but haven’t been there ly have one life, so make the most
yet. of it”.

Grid girl or girl next door ? Best Racing Memory ?

Cute girl next door. So many of them…(thoughts) I

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The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

reet with...

Jonathan Moury and Mark Pilcher
M2 Competition Team Owners

M2 Competition resulted from the friendship ran Scott Dixon and 2004 champion Paul Tracey, but

built up by Jonathon Moury and Mark Pilcher when he tired of living in the land of stars and stripes and

they worked together on New Zealand’s Team during A1 GP was an opportunity to spend more time at

the A1 GP series from 2007 to 2009. home in the Waikato.

Both had come to the team from differing back- Born in Brussels, and nicknamed “Flex”, Moury

grounds and the opposite side of the world. But the had a record breaking 2010 season in LMP2 with

chemistry works. Since joining forces in late 2010 Strakka Racing, which saw them winning the Le Mans

they have become the most successful team in the 24h in their class.

modern era of the Toyota Racing Series, having won He then went on to work for BMW Team RBM in
three drivers titles and four team’s championships. DTM, engineered Artem Markelov in GP2, and was

Nick Cassidy (2013), Lance Stroll (2015) and team manager at Prema Racing in GP2.

Llando Norris (2016) have won championships with Moury had done a degree in computer science
the team, which took the team’s title in each of those and systems and then an internship at Cosworth be-
winning years and in 2017. They are on the verge of fore he got involved with A1, initially as a data engi-
doing the double in 2018. neer in 2006.

the “When Mark suggested we get together after He had a family background in motorsport and
demise of A1 GP I didn’t know how it was going raced in karts, single seaters and GT cars before con-

to work,” said Moury. “I’m in Belgium for most of the centrating on his career.
year and he’s in New Zealand.”

Moury helps find drivers and encourages them Since M2 was set up for the Toyota Racing Se-
to come to New Zealand for five consecutive week- ries “Pilch” has spent his southern hemisphere win-
ends which includes 15 races, as well as qualifying ters working in the Australian GT championship.

and two and a half hours of practice each weekend. Moury’s relationship with Prema has seen the

“When we got together to start the team, with Ferrari Driver Academy send drivers to New Zealand
support from Colin Giltrap, we decided the only class for the European winter. With Marcus Armstrong and
worth doing was TRS,” said Pilcher. Robert Shwartzman this year under the guidance of
the prancing horse in Europe, M2 has now run seven

The pair split the responsibilities of running the FDA drivers in TRS in recent years.

team, with Moury in charge of the engineering and M2 has a staff of up to 20 when they run six
Pilcher being the operations manager with his local cars, with many of the engineers and lead mechanics
knowledge. contracted in with experience from GP2 or DTM.

Before the A1 GP, Pilcher had spent six years in

North America working in Champ Cars on teams that

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The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

Best Shots o

Bruce Jenkins, Official Photographer of the Castrol Toyota R

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The Down Low

The Official Magazine of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series

of the Week

Racing Series, provides us his best shots of the Week End

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Coming Next…
Round 05—New Zealand Grand Prix

Manfeild, Feilding
February 8th-11th
Live Timing and Live Streaming on
Website and App

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