Mitch Evans has dominated qualifying for the New Zealand Grand Prix, going fastest in all three sessions today to take pole for this afternoon’s Dan Higgins Trophy race and for the Grand Prix itself.
In the two sessions that set grid positions for this afternoon’s race, Evans posted a 1:04.324 and then topped that with a 1:03.594. Times from these sessions averaged across the best times of the third session would decide pole for the Grand Prix tomorrow afternoon.
Evans was pushed hardest in the first session. Evans and Estonian Sten Pentus drove each other faster and faster, Evans finishing the first session fastest by just .066 seconds with Pentus setting a best time of 1:04.390.
Third fastest was Earl Bamber in the Mad Butcher car. He posted a best of 1:04.437
After a five minute break, the cars were out for session two, where Pentus found himself unable to stay with Evans as the young racer pushed times into the 1:03 bracket.
The fastest time of the session came from Evans on lap four, with Earl Bamber the only other driver to join Evans in the 1:03s when he posted a 1:03.960 a lap later.
Strong blustery winds are giving drivers more work to do than usual. Cars in the top six were posting speeds of 216 km/h heading directly into the wind on the long back straight and 230 km/h with a following wind on the shorter front straight.
Drivers say they are having to brake earlier at the end of the front straight due to the extra speed and the “push” effect of the wind. When they turn into the right hander at the end of that straight or the longer right hander off the back straight the wind works against the car’s aerodynamics, unsettling it and disturbing its downforce.
Oakura’s Stefan Webling was the big improver in the first two sessions. Sixth in the first session with a best of 1:04.501, he stepped up in session two by almost a half second, setting a time of 1:04.072 on lap seven.
Unluckiest across the first two sessions was Aucklander Andrew Waite, who was tenth fastest in the first session then managed only one lap of session two before his car developed an oil pressure problem.
The third session was a “superpole” format, giving all racers five consecutive laps to post times that would count toward their Grand Prix grid positions. Each driver’s average across those five laps set against their average best from the first and second sessions would decide pole and grid positions for the Grand Prix.
Evans was fast from the out-lap, already into the 1:04 bracket. Behind him Richie Stanaway, Earl Bamber and Sten Pentus made their way to the top end of the time sheets.
Evans once more took fastest time, a 1:03.923 ahead of Earl Bamber on 1:04.006, Richie Stanaway third fastest on 1:04.107.
The grid for the Grand Prix has Evans on pole, Bamber alongside, Sten Pentus third – and behind Evans. Stanaway is fourth, Jamie McNee fifth alongside 17-year-old Brazilian Lucas Foresti.
Race one, at 5:45 pm, is the 20 lap Dan Higgins Trophy. There is a total prize purse across the top finishers of $5,000. The trophy is named after the founder of the Higgins earthmoving company, which was instrumental in creating the Manfeild track. Established in 1975, it has been part of the Toyota Racing Series since the series began.
The first driver to win the Dan Higgins Trophy, in 1975, was Brett Riley. Other famous names on the trophy include Scott Dixon, Brady Kennett, and current Red Bull/Toro Rosso Formula One reserve driver Brendon Hartley who has won the trophy twice, in 2003 and 2006.
Current TRS competitor Ken Smith won the trophy in 1994 and 1995 and is the only former holder of the trophy racing this weekend.
On Sunday, the on-track action starts at 11.40 with a 12 lap race, followed in the afternoon at 2.20 pm by the New Zealand Grand Prix. By 3.00 pm the newest name to be inscribed on this historic trophy will be known.
