Ben Harford wins the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy

Lower Hutt driver Ben Harford won today's Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy race for Toyota Racing Series cars at the Taupo A1GP event.

Harford won the first TRS event on Friday, spun out of the lead of the second race yesterday, but made no errors for the 20-race feature race on Sunday.

Taking the lead from the start, he was ahead of a multiple-car tangle involving Dominic Storey, Michael Burdett and Andy Knight that spun Knight down the side of the track.

Knight said he saw the incident develop alongside him but had nowhere to go as the cars moved across the track toward him.

"I saw one car go in the air, and I felt the hit, then I was sliding down the grass hoping to stay off the barrier fence," he said.

Harford said the incident helped build his advantage in the early laps.

"I was actually watching it all happen behind me and glad I was away from it all. It really looked like they were going to red flag the race and go for a re-start so I was racing with my eye on the flag marshals as we went around that first lap."

Still smarting from his unforced spin in the Saturday race, Harford said he was careful to conserve his tyres in the longer Denny Hulme race.

"There was a little more grip out there today, not so much dust, and I made the most of the early laps to get a good lead over the field," said Harford.

Storey recovered from the start-line incident to stay with the field as they raced into the first corner, Knight had rejoined in last place and Burdett lost his front wing and retired.

Tucked in behind Harford in his best showing of the series to date was Palmerston North's Nelson Hartley.

As the race progressed, Harford was able to open up a lead of more than six seconds and Hartley was challenged by the International Motorsport-run cars of Mitch Cunningham and Earl Bamber.

Cunningham put intense pressure on Hartley, and eventually made a passing attempt at turn one, but slid wide and let Hartley re-take his position. Cunningham's team-mate Earl Bamber took advantage of the confusion and followed Hartley through to be third, a position he would hold until the race end.

Australian Nathan Antunes sealed his best weekend in the series to date with fifth overall ahead of Palmerston North's Sam MacNeill.

With his car's steering bent, Knight was in fight-back mode, clawing his way past Michael Pickens, Ken Smith, Dominic Storey, then Iceland's Kristján Einar and Ben Crighton.

Storey had posted fastest lap of the race, a 1:24.927 but finished one lap down on the field.

Though Matt Halliday led the international "series within a series" coming into this final round, his crash on Saturday, which also took Christina Orr and Daynom Templeman out of the race, put him at a points deficit.

Earl Bamber had take the international series lead, and his third overall in the Denny Hulme race was enough to give him the international series title with 510 points ahead of Ben Harford (497) and Andy Knight (474). Bamber also won the weekend overall from Ben Harford and Nelson Hartley.

The overall series points also take in the first round at Pukekohe in November 2007, meaning Andy Knight retains the series points lead on 699 with Ben Harford second on 641 and Earl Bamber third on 618.

Harford was reflecting on what might have been if he had not spun on Saturday – the win he had seemed on target to score would have given him sufficient points to lead the series at this point.

He was happy, though, with his dominance in the race in a car that weighed in after ward comfortably over the series minimum and in fact heavier than some of his rivals.

"There was a little more grip out there today, not so much dust, and I made the most of the early laps to get a good lead over the field."


Toyota Racing Series
Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy (20 laps)
Results
Position Driver Origin
1 Ben Harford Lower Hutt
2 Nelson Hartley Palmerston North
3 Earl Bamber Wanganui
4 Mitch Cunningham Auckland
5 Nathan Antunes Sydney
6 Sam MacNeill Palmerston North
7 Nic Jordan Cambridge
8 Hamish Cross Christchurch
9 Daynom Templeman Auckland
10 Christina Orr Whakatane
11 Andy Knight Christchurch
12 Ben Crighton Auckland
13 Kristjan Einar Iceland
14 Michael Pickens Auckland
15 Ken Smith Manurewa
16 Dominic Storey Auckland

Not classified
Matt Halliday (9 laps)
Michael Burdett (0 laps, accident)

Toyota Racing Series
International Series
Results
1 Earl Bamber 510
2 Ben Harford 497
3 Andy Knight 474

Toyota Racing Series
Points after four rounds
Andy Knight 699
Ben Harford 641
Earl Bamber 618
Nic Jordan 499
Dominic Storey 451
Nelson Hartley 438
Michael Burdett 437
Matt Halliday 417
Hamish Cross 411
Mitch Cunningham 384
Christina Orr 375
Ben Crighton 374
Ken Smith 336
Nathan Antunes 329
Sam MacNeill 254
Daniel Gaunt 238
Michael Pickens 192
Kristjan Einar 174
Daynom Templeman 170
Matthew Hamilton 127