Bamber tops timesheets in testing

Wanganui race driver Earl Bamber topped the Toyota Racing Series New Zealand Grand Prix testing timesheet at Manfeild Autocourse this afternoon. 

Fresh from winning the Lady Wigram trophy at Ruapuna last week, 17 year old Bamber took his bio-fuelled Toyota single-seater around Manfeild in 1:04.258 in the first of two timed sessions in Friday's testing, clear of second-fastest Nelson Hartley on 1: 04.354. 

Bamber's first session time was the fastest across the two testing sessions giving the defending New Zealand Grand Prix winner and Toyota Racing Series champion Daniel Gaunt a new challenge: toppling the rising star and securing pole in the three qualifying sessions tomorrow (Saturday). 

Auckland-based Gaunt is making a return to the series he dominated last year to defend the premier title of the three-round international "series within a series" – the Lady Wigram Trophy, the New Zealand Grand Prix and the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy at next weekend's A1GP race meet in Taupo. 

Gaunt had a nightmare weekend at the Lady Wigram and could only manage seventh overall, was seventh fastest in the first testing session at Manfeild on 1:04.577. He came back in the second session to be second-fastest behind series rookie and A1GP driver Matt Halliday, posting a 1: 04.671. 

Fastest of the international drivers was Australian Nathan Antunes, fifth overall in the first session on 1:04.468. 

Icelandic driver Tristjan Einar spun on cold tyres in the mid-field section of the track early in the second session. 

The points leader of the international series is Lower Hutt's Ben Harford. He was sixth and seventh fastest in the two test sessions. 

Both sessions ran in sunny but cool conditions, air temperatures at 24 degrees Celsius and track temperatures six degree warmer. 

Five new drivers arrived in the series for the start of the international series. A further addition for this round is Daynom Templeman from Auckland's North Shore. He was third overall at the New Zealand Grand Prix last year, and will be aiming for the podium again in 2008. 

Home-grown innovation is to the fore in the Toyota Racing Series. The 2008 New Zealand Grand Prix is the first in the world to run on biofuel. From the start of the 2008 season all Toyota Racing Series cars use an E85 ethanol-petrol blend that reduces emissions, significantly reduces use of fossil fuels and has been shown to give slight improvements in power and torque. 

New Zealand is one of only two countries in the world to have the right to call its premier race a Grand Prix. In its 57 year history, the Grand Prix has been held at nine different venues in the past, and only moved off road and airfield circuits onto permanent circuits in 1963. 

The first New Zealand Grand Prix in 1950 was won by John McMillan in a Jackson Special, and the title has been contested and won by most of the famous names of the formative years of grand prix racing:
Held in recent years at Teretonga near Invercargill, the Grand Prix has moved north this year to Manfeild near Palmerston North. Manfeild has undergone a makeover to host the race, including construction of a new three storey race control tower and upgrades to many of its facilities. 

The 2008 New Zealand Grand Prix, 35 laps of the 3.03 km Manfeild Autocourse, will get under way at 4.20 pm on Sunday afternoon. 

Among other features of the weekend are a street party in Feilding itself, autograph signing sessions with the stars of the Toyota Racing Series, classic grand prix car demonstration laps, an outing for the New Zealand A1GP car, and a new on-track innovation to be announced during race weekend by Toyota.

Toyota Racing Series
New Zealand Grand Prix weekend programme
Saturday 12 January
11.45 am Toyota Racing Series Qualifying Session One
12.05 pm Toyota Racing Series Qualifying Session Two
12.25 pm Toyota Racing Series Qualifying Session Three
4.32 pm Toyota Racing Series – Race One (16 Laps)
5.00 pm Toyota Racing Series Press Conference
5.00 pm – 10.00 pm Feilding Street Party from 5pm to 10pm at Manchester
Square Feilding, drivers present, family event

Sunday 13 January
12.00 pm Toyota Racing Series – Race Two (16 Laps)
3.50 pm onward Grand Prix build-up. TRS2 race car leads the field
behind safety car, TRS Cars on to grid, engines
switched off
Kapa Haka
National Anthem
Drivers to cars
4.20 pm Toyota Racing Series New Zealand Grand Prix (35
laps)
5.05 pm NZGP podium presentations

Toyota Racing Series
Points after two rounds
1. Andy Knight
380
2. Ben Harford
353
3. Nic Jordan
300
4. Earl Bamber
250
5. Dominic Storey
232
6. Ben Crighton
213
7. Christina Orr
208
8. Ken Smith
194
9. Michael Burdett
190
10. Mitch Cunningham
188
11. Nelson Hartley
187
12. Hamish Cross
183
13. Matt Halliday
169
14. Sam MacNeill
148
15. Matthew Hamilton
127
16. Nathan Antunes
120
17. Daniel Gaunt
96
18. Michael Pickens
76
19. Kristján Einar
72



Toyota Racing Series 2008 Race Calendar | Round 1 3-4 Nov 07 Pukekohe Park Raceway, Auckland, New Zealand Motorcup | Round 2 5-6 Jan 08 Powerbuilt Tools International Raceway, Ruapuna, Lady Wigram Trophy | Round 3 12-13 Jan 08 Manfeild Park, Feilding, New Zealand Grand Prix | Round 4 18-20 Jan 08 Taupo Motor Racing Circuit, Taupo, Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy | Round 5 16-17 Feb 08 Manfeild Park, Feilding, Dan Higgins Trophy | Round 6 1- 2 Mar 08 Timaru International Raceway, Timaru, Timaru Herald Trophy | Round 7 8-9 Mar 08 Teretonga Park, Invercargill, Spirit of a Nation | Round 8 18-20 Apr 08 Hamilton Street Race, Hamilton
www.toyotaracing.co.nz