Liam Lawson edges into Toyota Racing Series lead with NZ Motor Cup victory
Liam Lawson has won the NZ Motor Cup as part of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series Pukekohe round, ahead of Franco Colapinto and Lirim Zendeli.
The New Zealand Motor Cup was set to be a duel between championship rivals Liam Lawson and Igor Fraga, with the pair locking out the front row for Sunday’s feature race.
Lawson, eleven points behind the Brazilian, qualified on pole and lead away from the start. Fraga tucked in behind Lawson into Turn 3, preparing for a long race behind the 2019 champion.
It was not to be, however, as Grégoire Saucy, propelled to third from his stellar start, tipped Fraga, spinning him and sending him to the rear of the field.
Lawson, with clear air behind him, set about building his lead, but the Safety Car was brought out to collect Lucas Petersson’s stray front win, and the race was neutralised.
Fraga made good on his recovery, passing Axel Gnos into P15, and then earning a promotion to P14 when Saucy was given a drive-through penalty.
The Brazilian eSports champion quickly passed Spike Kohlbecker, Oliver Rasmussen, Aussie Jackson Walls, and Tijment van der Helm, on a stellar attempt to recover valuable championship points that took him to P8 at the chequered flag.
Red Bull Junior driver Yuki Tsunoda had a similarly memorable drive, starting P16, moving up to P8 by the end of the dramatic first lap, eventually finishing fourth.
Lawson ultimately crossed the line followed by Franco Colapinto and Lirim Zendeli.
“I’m very happy with this one, we missed out on this one last year,” said Lawson.
“It’s nice to have it this time and to turn this weekend around. We were very disappointed after last weekend.”
"It’s unfortunate what happened to Igor at the start. Our pace was really good though. I’m not going to lie, we were flat out the whole race. It’s obviously better to be ahead on the points now than being behind but it’s still very close and I’m sure the weekend at Manfeild will be close too."
Australian Jackson Walls finished P10, taking him to P11 in the championship on 125 points.
Liam Lawson enters the final weekend of the Toyota Racing Series—the New Zealand Grand Prix—leading the championship on 286 points, with Fraga a close second on 278 points. With 90 points in total up for grabs, the championship lead is still anyone’s game, with Lawson, Fraga, Colapinto, Tsunoda, and Saucy all possible victors.
Castrol Toyota Racing Series - New Zealand Motor Cup @ Pukekohe
- Liam Lawson (NZ)
- Franco Colapinto
- Lirim Zendeli
- Yuki Tsunoda
- Petr Ptáček
- Ido Cohen
- Caio Collet
- Igor Fraga
- Tijmen van der Helm
- Jackson Walls (AUS)
- Oliver Rasmussen
- Spike Kohlbecker
- Lucas Petersson
- Henning Enqvist
- Rui Andrade
- Axel Gnos
- Grégoire Saucy
- Emilien Denner - DNS
