Shane van Gisbergen earns back-to-back TRS victories ahead of NZGP

Shane van Gisbergen has taken his second victory of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series weekend at Hampton Downs, ahead of Chris van der Drift and Matthew Payne.

Van Gisbergen has promised that he would work on his race start overnight and it showed, as he started from pole and easily held his lead into the first corner.

Rookie Kaleb Ngatoa had a poor start and dropped through the field, while Matthew Payne mounted a aggressive challenge for second into the first corner.

Chris van der Drift held him at bay, and Payne fell victim to Brendon Leitch, who was eagerly watching the battle unfold and struck when the opportunity arose.

Greg Murphy came into contact with Andre Heimgartner in the midfield battle, retiring the car to work on repairs before the afternoon Grand Prix. Veteran Kenny Smith followed him into the pits a short time later.

Saturday’s race winner, van Gisbergen had no trouble controlling the race from the front, establishing a lead of just under a second ahead of van der Drift and Leitch.

The race was reset on Lap 8 when Tom Alexander went off from tenth, beaching his Toyota FT60 in the sand, and bringing out the Safety Car.

Tom Alexander is stranded in the gravel during Race 2 of the Toyota Racing Series. (Image: John Cowpland/TGRNZ)

When the race resumed, Shane went early and Chris was eager to follow, with a robust battle emerging for the first time between the two leaders.

The battle brought Leitch into the fold, but van Gisbergen was able to hold on.

With the leaders brought together, Matthew Payne was eager to return to the podium and mounted a spirited attack on Leitch. The pass was done, but the battle was not, with Leitch regaining the position and pushing Payne off the road in the process.

With Payne off the road, Andre Heimgartner was fast catching Leitch, but it ended in tears when the pair made contact. Heimgartner was stranded with a broken suspension and Leitch was forced to pit with damage.

The Safety Car came out as Heimgartner’s car was cleared, and the chequered flag fell as van Gisbergen cautiously led the field around, followed by van der Drift and Matthew Payne - a repeat of the podium from Race 1.

(Image: John Cowpland/TGRNZ)