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The M2 Competition team driver seized the lead off the start from the outside of the front row from pole sitter Mansell, weathered the early challenge for the Aussie in the leading Giles Motorsport entry and won by over 6s.
Third place went to MR2’s Michael Shin. The South Korean start from sixth on the grid and made a great start to lead home the New Zealanders Kaleb Ngatoa and Liam Sceats.
The first round of the championship for the Toyota Race Series cars was at Round 2 of the NZ Super Sprint NZ Series which was also the Historic Grand Prix meeting.
Seventeen drivers took part in the 15min qualifying which were held in tricky conditions weather-wise. Mansell was fastest ahead of Bilinski and Chin’s Gerrard Xie. The other Australians in the field, Tommy Smith and Elliott Cleary were 10th and 13th respectively.
The was a Safety Car just after the start of the 18-lap race when Italy’s Nicola Lacorte stalled and was clipped by Landan Matriano Lim (USA). The latter was able to return to the pits under his own steam with a damage control arm, while Lacorte had significant damage.
After the race resumed Mansell challenged for the lead and was able to put his car’s nosecone in front for a very brief period. But after that Bilinski was able to consolidate the lead for the duration.
Mansell who is only doing the first two rounds, rued his bad getaway with wheelspin and when asked about changes for Sunday’s Race 2 didn’t offer much. “I’m not an engineer,” he said.
Cleary improved through the race and finished seventh behind Xie. Cleary also picked up places and was tenth behind Alex Crosbie (NZ) and Lucas Fecury (Brazil).
