Shane van Gisbergen takes Toyota Racing Series victory at Hampton Downs

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.

Shane van Gisbergen wins Toyota Racing Series Race 1

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)

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)