Piquet and Norris Battle it Out at Manfeild

Pedro Piquet and Lando Norris are greedy young men – in the nicest possible way – in a hurry this weekend Both want to win the Toyota Racing Series and its final race on Sunday, the New Zealand Grand Prix, at Manfeild. English 16 year old teenager Norris has an 86 point lead over Brazilian 17 year old Piquet, his closest challenger after the previous four rounds.

“The series is more important,” said Norris, “but obviously I will still do my best to win every race.” Norris had the fastest time in today’s practice in the cooler morning session, while Piquet was quickest in the final practice period, but only third overall for the day, when the track was hotter and a little more slippery.

Piquet is not giving up on the overall title. “If Lando has some bad luck and I get some really good results I still have a chance.” Norris would have to not finish a race to give Piquet a fighting chance, as a win is only worth 75 points. “If Lando does a good job and gets third or fourth then he will win the series,” said Piquet. Having won the New Zealand Motor Cup at Hampton Downs a fortnight ago, the trophy which used to be awarded to the Grand Prix winner and has the names of four Formula One World Champions on it, Piquet now wants to win the Grand Prix, which has a new trophy since it shifted to Manfeild.

Tyre strategy may come into the equation over the three races, a 20 lap preliminary on Saturday afternoon and then a 15 lapper on Sunday morning before the 35 lap Grand Prix. “Tyre wear here is not as bad as Taupo,” said Norris, who plans to keep one set aside after Saturday morning’s qualifying just for the Grand Prix and use the other set allowed for the two shorter races.

Winning the series or the Grand Prix will give Norris and Piquet a springboard into the rest of their year, where Piquet will compete in the European Formula Three Championship and Norris is headed for the European Formula Renault Series.

They may have to keep an eye on team-mate Jehan Daruvala who had the second fastest time of the day in the morning and Australian Thomas Randle who has only returned for the Grand Prix and had the fourth best time of the day again in the morning.

Top locals James Munro (Christchurch) and Brendon Leitch (Invercargill) were fifth and sixth fastest during practice. Both have had second places during the series and have looked capable of upsetting the visiting international drivers.

 

Day 2, Test Session 1

1^st – No. 31, Lando Norris*, GBR, M2 Competition, 1:02.286

2^nd – No. 6, Jehan Daruvala*, IND, M2 Competition, 1:02.408

3^rd – No. 49, Thomas Randle, NZL, Victory Motor Racing, 1:02.627

4^th – No. 86, Brendon Leitch, NZL, Victory Motor Racing, 1:02.642

5^th – No. 67, Antoni Ptak*, POL, Giles Motorsport, 1:02.693

6^th – No. 40, James Munro, NZL, Giles Motorsport, 1:02.706

7^th – No. 5, Pedro Piquet, BRA, M2 Competition, 1:02.742

8^th – No. 10, Artem Markelov, RUS, M2 Competition, 1:02.788

9^th – No. 62, Ferdinand Habsburg, AUT, Giles Motorsport, 1:02.809

10^th – No. 15, Kami Laliberté, CAN, M2 Competition, 1:02.810

11^th – No. 18, Julian Hanses*, GER, Victory Motor Racing, 1:02.832

12^th – No. 33, Guan Yu Zhou*, CHN, M2 Competition, 1:02.963

13^th – No. 11, Taylor Cockerton*, NZL, ETEC Motorsport, 1:03.087

14^th – No. 4, Theo Bean*, USA, ETEC Motorsport, 1:03.185

15^th – No. 21, Nicolas Dapero, ARG, Giles Motorsport, 1:03.220

16^th – No. 26, Timothé Buret*, FRA, ETEC Motorsport, 1:03.307

17^th – No. 13, Rodrigo Baptista, BRA, ETEC Motorsport, 1:03.744

18^th – No. 17, Devlin DeFrancesco, CAN, Giles Motorsport, 1:03.926

19^th – No. 23, William Owen*, USA, Giles Motorsport, 1:04.113

 

No Time Set

No. 25, Bruno Baptista*, BRA, Victory Motor Racing

 

Day 2, Test Session 2

1^st – No. 5, Pedro Piquet, BRA, M2 Competition, 1:02.613

2^nd – No. 40, James Munro, NZL, Giles Motorsport, 1:02.630

3^rd – No. 62, Ferdinand Habsburg, AUT, Giles Motorsport, 1:02.828

4^th – No. 11, Taylor Cockerton*, NZL, ETEC Motorsport, 1:02.869

5^th – No. 86, Brendon Leitch, NZL, Victory Motor Racing, 1:02.884

6^th – No. 49, Thomas Randle, NZL, Victory Motor Racing, 1:02.972

7^th – No. 67, Antoni Ptak*, POL, Giles Motorsport, 1:03.059

8^th – No. 25, Bruno Baptista*, BRA, Victory Motor Racing, 1:03.072

9^th – No. 31, Lando Norris*, GBR, M2 Competition, 1:03.078

10^th – No. 17, Devlin DeFrancesco, CAN, Giles Motorsport, 1:03.091

11^th – No. 26, Timothé Buret*, FRA, ETEC Motorsport, 1:03.110

12^th – No. 10, Artem Markelov, RUS, M2 Competition, 1:03.143

13^th – No. 6, Jehan Daruvala*, IND, M2 Competition, 1:03.183

14^th – No. 4, Theo Bean*, USA, ETEC Motorsport, 1:03.189

15^th – No. 23, William Owen*, USA, Giles Motorsport, 1:03.272

16^th – No. 15, Kami Laliberté, CAN, M2 Competition, 1:03.339

17^th – No. 33, Guan Yu Zhou*, CHN, M2 Competition, 1:03.348

18^th – No. 18, Julian Hanses*, GER, Victory Motor Racing, 1:03.370

19^th – No. 21, Nicolas Dapero, ARG, Giles Motorsport, 1:03.472

20^th – No. 13, Rodrigo Baptista, BRA, ETEC Motorsport, 1:04.099

 

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