They fought for five weeks as the lead see-sawed back and forth. New Zealand’s two hottest prospects for international motorsport glory went hammer and tongs in the 2019 Castrol Toyota Racing Series, our premier Gold Star single-seater championship.
Race fans and old hands agreed: this was the very best TRS ever. Closest fought , most engaging, most spectacular (especially that six car bingle in the Grand Prix).
Very occasionally the international drivers got a peep at the top step of the podium – Lucas Auer, Cameron Das and others took their turns winning races, but the championship battle from race one to the Grand Prix was between Liam Lawson and Marcus Armstrong. These are two very different drivers, two teenagers from very different backgrounds with their sights on the world’s elite motor racing category.
It’s not often TRS delivers such an exciting five weeks of racing, nor is it common for the championship to come down to the New Zealand Grand Prix, the last of fifteen races.
Marcus Armstrong, seasoned by a massive season of racing in European F3, has his starts and restarts down to a fine art; Lawson is the wild card who can drift and dance his car to pole and race wins but needs to sort his start techniques.
By the time they reached Manfeild, both drivers had well and truly set their mark on the championship. Fair to say Liam went out hard at the opening round, He’s a young man with a mission and the first milestone for him was to put last year’s frustration behind him. Imagine being told you can’t race because you are too young. Yep, I know, age limits are imposed by motorsport’s governing body to protect those whose ambition outweighs their ability. Happy birthday for tomorrow Liam!
Marcus, of course, had his own frustrations in 2018, leading the championship but losing at the final round when his car overheated in a late-race safety car period. Safe to say this guy is the absolute master of starts and restarts now. An absolute demon in both those situations, which are arguably the most stressful a race driver will encounter.
But this weekend. A Grand Prix weekend unlike any other I’ve been part of. It’s hard to know where to start. Marcus winning the first race? The weird partial-reverse second race that saw Marcus and Liam start from P8 and P7. The late championship speed of Das, Kotaka, Muth and others? The inexplicable loss of speed endured by Lucas Auer in the Grand Prix? I’d been picking Lucas to win the GP, thinking his troubled TRS season had finally come good when he forged his way to pole. Nope.
Or just the epic duel between our two key protagonists, Liam setting the early pace and Marcus showing his European skills with some incredibly nail-biting overtakes. Then Marcus punching into the lead, Liam taking to the grass out of the esses and rejoining the track at the infield hairpin.
The battle, of course, went all the way to the chequered flag even though officials handed Marcus a five second penalty for the move. I’m not an official, not privy to their views of on-track incidents and I think it would be poor form to relitigate the incident. I’d only say it took the buzz out of the race. Marcus put on a spurt in the last laps, but there was no way he could open out a five second lead and thus take the win. Not with the equally racy form that Liam was showing.
So Marcus took the chequered flag already knowing that the penalty had taken away his Grand Prix win.
Two observations here, both about racers and their hearts. The first thing I saw Liam do after the race, among the throng of well-wishers, was go over to Marcus and wish him well. True sportsmen. Marcus, of course, was devastated. No racer could shrug that off.
But the second thing I saw was how the Italians working in the series reacted when they saw Marcus emerge for the ride home. Long hugs, words of consolation. Paolo, Gianfranco, salute. These are the things that make the difference.
So now the two drivers prepare for their European campaigns: Armstrong to the inaugural year of the new FIA Formula 3; Lawson to Formula Renault. Armstrong’s next step was never in doubt, and he’s well capable of dealing with the new championship. Lawson has 11 serious offers on the table to choose from, and Grant McDonald says no decision has been made. His group of backers know he must be happy with his choice in this all-important next step.
Both drivers remain on the fast track to the top. And for me, the interesting scenario that will play out over the next couple of years is the burning question: what will happen when they meet again on a European circuit?
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