Having completed three of the five rounds of the 2020 Castrol Toyota Racing Series, one thing is very clear. It is a highly competitive championship.
The TRS offers competitors what is effectively a single seater boot camp with five race meetings over five consecutive weekends at five different circuits throughout New Zealand. It’s certainly a quick way for a driver to not only see the country but also to improve, gain experience and get race fit for the coming Northern Hemisphere race season.
Such has been the improvement across the grid, qualifying on Saturday morning at Hampton Downs in the north Waikato saw all 18-cars within 0.7 seconds of each other. Sunday saw a 0.9 second difference in qualifying.
Talkmotorsport caught up with US driver Spike Kohlbecker after the third and final race for the weekend to get his thoughts on where he is at after three race weekends.
“I’ve enjoyed Hampton Downs this weekend,” commented Kohlbecker. “It is a great drivers track with some good passing opportunities. It’s just a little surprising at how close the field was in qualifying.”
Having qualified 11th on Saturday morning, Spike went on to finish 14th in the first and 15th in the second race.
“This morning I got shuffled back in the start and didn’t have any luck.
“I can’t complain as we are making ongoing improvements. A lot of it is about getting confidence in the car which we are achieving.”
Qualifying on Sunday morning for the feature Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy race saw Kohlbecker 12th fastest. A good start saw him able to move through the field.
“There were a few incidents ahead of me and I was able to take advantage of passing on the outside of turn two. We had been building into this all weekend.”
Having moved up to seventh, it was to no avail after Kohlbecker hit a slowing car, ending his race.
“I was coming over the hill not knowing that someone was slower (due to loss of engine power). I was on the racing line on a blind turn and that was that.
“There’s not much I would have done differently. It was really unfortunate as I was having a really good race.”
The attention this weekend is on the fourth round at the Pukekohe Park Raceway, just south of Auckland city.
“We know what to do this coming round.
“First of all this week we’ll relax and get ready for the weekend. We are actually able to carry more active speed in the car and I feel that I am coming to grips more and more and it is starting to show, which is really exciting for me and my family and supporsters.
“The objective for Pukekohe is to keep improving and get better at qualifying. Being able to really lay down a fast lap, is so important in this championship.
” We were only about 3/10 off the top. The field is really really close but I think we might see a bigger separation of the field Puke.”
Sitting 15th on the points table Kohlbecker returns to a track he has raced at before. Drivers face Friday practice, qualifying (for race 1) on Saturday morning and the first race in the afternoon.
Qualifying for race three takes place Sunday morning with race two just before lunch (grid positions for race 2 are determined by the finishing order for race 1, plus a ‘marble-draw’ which determines a reverse top six or eight grid). The final feature race, the Denny Hulme Memorial, takes place Sunday afternoon.
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