Auer leads 2013 Toyota Racing Series

- Alex Lynn puts his name on the Timaru Herald Trophy
- Feature race brings first win of 2013 for M2 Competition
- Serralles and Cassidy stay in touch with the new leader

A see-saw battle for championship points at the second round of the 2013 Toyota Racing Series has been resolved in favour of Austrian teenager Lucas Auer.

Auer, 18, won the first race of the weekend on Saturday to lead the championship. He fell behind by the narrowest of margins when Félix Serrallés won the second race of the weekend this morning, trailing the Puerto Rican driver by just one point.

With pole for the feature race this afternoon, Auer had some cause to be confident of dominating.
It was M2 Competition’s Alex Lynn, though, who swept into the lead from the start, Auer close behind. Félix Serrallés slotted into third, making sure of championship points, but was soon under attack from Bruno Bonifacio.

At the front a thrilling battle ensued between Alex Lynn and Lucas Auer, nose to tail for most of the race. Lynn was holding Auer off as the young Austrian put ever greater pressure on his rival, looking to force a mistake that would let him past.

“It was very intense there all through the race, Lucas was always pushing and I was making small mistakes that would let him get close but I always made sure of getting a good drive out of turn three. Hard work!”
Auer said he was pushing hard for the chance to get past, but “Alex never made the big mistake I wanted!”
Behind them numerous battles were played out between team-mates and rivals. Bruno Bonifacio closed in on Félix Serrallés over several laps, their duel mirroring that of Lynn and Auer. Bonifacio then squeezed past to be third, and Serrallés dropped back, only to regain third when Bonifacio’s engine blew.

From here the run to the finish was all about the desperate battle between Auer and Lynn, but in the end
Lynn took the trophy and a useful boost to his championship points after the massive crash at the Teretonga feature race a week before..

Auer’s second put him back in the championship lead with 382 points; Serrallés six points behind on 376; Nick Cassidy was first Kiwi home and third in the championship after finishing seventh to hold 329 points. Cassidy also reset the race lap record with a best lap of 57.847 for the 2.4 km circuit..

The 2013 Toyota Racing Series will be televised on SKY and Prime TV in New Zealand, on Speed TV in Australia and Speed Channel in the USA, and to a further 39 countries on the Motors TV network in Europe.