The 2011 New Zealand Grand Prix event for open wheel racing cars was held at Manfeild Autocourse near Feilding on 13 February 2011. It was the fifty-sixth New Zealand Grand Prix and was open to Toyota Racing Series cars. The event was also the third race of the fourth round of the 2011 Toyota Racing Series.
Sixteen Tatuus-Toyota cars started the race which was won by 16-year-old New Zealander Mitch Evans who became the youngest ever winner of the New Zealand Grand Prix and who is believed to have become the youngest driver to win an international grand prix anywhere in the world. The Giles Motorsport driver won by three seconds from another 16-year-old competitor, Russian Daniil Kvyat, of Victory Motor Racing. Australian ETEC Motorsport driver Scott Pye was third.
Evans started from pole position alongside Nick Cassidy and won the drag race to the first corner. Evans, Cassidy, Kvyat and Pye quickly built a gap on the field.
On lap 16 Cassidy spun, bringing to an end to the direct threat to the lead held by Evans who controlled the second half of the race from the front to win from Kvyat and Pye. British driver and grandson of 1964 and 1965 NZ Grand Prix winner, Josh Hill finished fourth winning a battle for the position with Australian Nick Foster. German driver Mario Farnbacher was sixth also winning his position battle with Russian Ivan Lukashevich. Cassidy finished a disappointing eighth ahead of Kotaro Sakurai and Jordan Skinner. New Zealand open-wheel legend Ken Smith also completed full race distance. Jamie McNee was the only other driver to be classified.
Defending race champion Earl Bamber, a late entry into the race, withdrew on lap 19.
Classification Qualifying Pos No. Driver Team Time Grid 1 1 Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport 1:03.965 1 2 7 Nick Cassidy Giles Motorsport 1:04.131 2 3 19 Scott Pye ETEC Motorsport 1:04.177 3 4 13 Nick Foster Giles Motorsport 1:04.244 4 5 29 Daniil Kvyat Victory Motor Racing 1:04.616 5 6 20 Josh Hill ETEC Motorsport 1:04.660 6 7 36 Alex Lynn Giles Motorsport 1:04.695 7 8 5 Ivan Lukashevich M2 Competition 1:04.699 8 9 87 Damon Leitch Victory Motor Racing 1:04.788 9 10 48 Mario Farnbacher Giles Motorsport 1:04.820 10 11 8 Jamie McNee ETEC Motorsport 1:04.898 11 12 17 Alastair Wootten DART International 1:04.955 12 13 2 Earl Bamber Earl Bamber Motorsport 1:04.999 13 14 4 Kotaro Sakurai M2 Competition 1:05.228 14 - 11 Ken Smith Ken Smith Motorsport no time PL - 22 Jordan Skinner M2 Competition no time PL Source(s):
Race Pos No. Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Gap 1 1 Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport 35 38min 55.818sec 1 2 29 Daniil Kvyat Victory Motor Racing 35 + 3.229 s 5 3 19 Scott Pye ETEC Motorsport 35 + 5.882 s 3 4 20 Josh Hill ETEC Motorsport 35 + 13.970 s 6 5 13 Nick Foster Giles Motorsport 35 + 14.338 s 4 6 48 Mario Farnbacher Giles Motorsport 35 + 16.463 s 10 7 5 Ivan Lukashevich M2 Competition 35 + 16.870 s 8 8 7 Nick Cassidy Giles Motorsport 35 + 21.363 s 2 9 4 Kotaro Sakurai M2 Competition 35 + 24.581 s 14 10 22 Jordan Skinner M2 Competition 35 + 26.444 s 16 11 11 Ken Smith Ken Smith Motorsport 35 + 39.627 s 15 12 8 Jamie McNee ETEC Motorsport 32 + 3 laps 11 Ret 2 Earl Bamber Earl Bamber Motorsport 18 Retired 13 Ret 17 Alastair Wootten DART International 14 Retired 12 Ret 36 Alex Lynn Giles Motorsport 13 Retired 7 Ret 87 Damon Leitch Victory Motor Racing 1 Retired 9 Source(s):
References
External links Toyota Racing Series