Shane van Gisbergen takes Toyota Racing Series victory at Hampton Downs

Shane van Giserbergen has won Race 1 of the 2021 Castrol Toyota Racing Series ahead of Chris van der Drift and Matthew Payne.

Polesitter Chris van der Drift led from the line with van Gisbergen holding off the chasing pack to maintain his second place.

With a cat-and-mouse battle looming, van Gisbergen reeled in van der Drift and never looked back, taking the race lead by over half a second at the chequered flag.

Brendon Leitch held third position off the start but was unable to stay out of Matthew Payne’s clutches, making a mistake under pressure and almost losing two positions as Kaleb Ngatoa saw an opportunity down the inside.

Chris van der Drift leads the field away into Turn 1 from pole position. (Image: motorsport.tv)

Leitch earnt back fourth place in the following laps, but was unable to catch up with Payne who completed the podium.

Van Gisbergen will start in pole position for Race 2 tomorrow morning at 9:40am AEDT before the 66th New Zealand Grand Prix, set to start at 3:20pm AEDT.

TOYOTA RACING SERIES - RACE 1 RESULTS

1. Shane van Gisbergen

2. Chris van der Drift +0.579

3. Matthew Payne +7.709

4. Brendon Leitch +13.227

5. Kaleb Ngatoa +13.803

6. Andre Heimgartner +14.439

7. Daniel Gaunt +14.994

8. Tom Alexander +16.366

9. Peter Vodanovich +17.247

10. Billy Frazer +18.156

11. Damon Leitch +22.519

12. Conrad Clark +24.464

13. Greg Murphy +24.780

14. Chris Vlok +31.354

15. Ken Smith +1 lap

16. Joshua Bethune +7 laps

(Image: motorsport.tv)