Marcus Armstrong stakes his claim for the TRS championship with Dan Higgins Trophy victory

Marcus Armstrong has taken out the first race of the New Zealand Grand Prix weekend, holding the lead from the first lap after a storming start.

Armstrong overtook polesitter and championship rival Liam Lawson off the start, while Lucas Auer battled with Lawson into the first corner.

Fellow kiwi Brendon Leitch also had a great start, pulling up behind Auer in fourth when the pack settled.

Lawson soon caught Armstrong and the two pulled away from the field, holding a 3-4 second gap back to Auer. Armstrong went one better, pulling a further 1 second gap ahead of Lawson.

Back in the field, a Pter Ptacek was unable to avoid a spinning Kazuto Kotaka, with their collision ending Kotaka’s race and sending Ptacek into the barriers in lap 11.

A red flag ensued, which squashed Armstrong’s lead, but he recovered at the restart, pulling away from Lawson by a second.

Lawson showed consistent form, pulling a substantial distance from Auer, but was unable to catch Armstrong.

Lawson will start ahead of Armstrong in tomorrow’s reverse grid race, holding a one point championship lead.

Lucas Auer finished in third with Australians Calan Williams and Jackson Walls in P5 and P10 respectively.

FULL RESULTS TO COME.

Read our interview with Liam Lawson here.

Read our interview with Marcus Armstrong here.

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