Thomas Randle had victory ripped from his grasp after receiving a costly post-race penalty in the opening Castrol Toyota Racing Series race at Teretonga.
Randle led from pole and was never headed in the 15-lap affair however he later received a 10s penalty for jumping the start which demoted him to seventh.
Championship leader Richard Verschoor (Netherlands) was deemed the winner from Kiwi Brendon Leitch while Brazil’s Pedro Piquet was third.
“Richard got a better start than me so I can’t see how I jumped the start,” Randle contested afterwards.
The win has cemented the Dutch teenager’s lead in the series, with two more races in Round 2 of the five-round series scheduled for tomorrow.
Similar penalties were dished out to Jehan Daruvala (India) and Harry Hayek (Australia) with the pair relegated from seventh and 10th to ninth and 13th respectively.
Randle is second in the points standings on 220, 36 behind Verschoor.
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