He won the most
races but that wasn’t enough for Earl Bamber to win the 2010 Toyota
Racing Series (TRS). This is a championship that has earned a
reputation for not only producing international talent but a series that
has no margin for error. Get it wrong and you can kiss the
championship good bye.
Mitch Evans is the 2010 TRS champion because his rate of finishing
was higher than the other competitors. A championship of fifteen races
Evans had twelve top five results; ten of these were on the podium
(Bamber 10/15 - 9 podiums). But with only three wins compared with
Bamber’s six this was enough to claim victory by three points.
So where did it go wrong for Bamber?
It didn’t necessarily go
wrong, more to the point there were two pivotal reasons for it not to
have gone better for Bamber.
First, Mitch Evans was more consistent as explained earlier.
Second, Bamber faltered at the start. His first round at Teretonga
in January was his poorest result (6th, 6th and 2nd). He had a gearbox
issue and also described his form as rusty. So Evans went to the second
round thirty points ahead of Bamber.
From then on Bamber showed the superb talent that he has including winning the prestigious New Zealand Grand Prix. Arguably he was the driver to beat in the 2010 field. But the Toyota Racing Series is one that demands talent and consistency and this is why Evans was the victor.
