Last season we saw a number of overseas drivers, and locals, go wheel-to-wheel during the summer and the same names have been popping up throughout Europe during the open wheel season over there. Chief among them was TRS champion Mitch Evans who showed he has the goods in the GP3 class, and just this weekend finished just off the podium in his one-off race in the last round of the British Formula Three championship.
Never being one to rest on their laurels, the TRS organisers have tweaked the series for 2012 and all five races will be back-to-back. Now in its eighth season and on the back of a record number of overseas drivers (nine) last time, racing every weekend will be highly attractive to overseas drivers and teams. There will be huge cost savings and folk will not have to be away from home for too long.
The cars that are raced are an attractive alternative to European drivers who are contemplating chancing their respective arms in series like the British and European Formula Renault and various Formula Three championships, and GP3 to certain extent, which get under way in late March.
With such an intense series on offer and the ability to get hundreds of race kilometres under their belts, foreign drivers will arrive back on the continent race-fit and raring to go. An added attraction is that racing in New Zealand is cheaper than in Europe. Even more so with the downturn in the world's economy and I doubt, other than Nascar, there is anywhere else in the world where there are five races in five weeks.
When the series first kicked off in 2005 there were seven races held over six months, which was way too long and many fans lost interest. More recently, the series has been fought out over three months between January and March and now the compressed action starts at Teretonga, January 12-15 and finishes off at Manfeild, February 9-12.
Series organiser Barry Tomlinson has said inquiries have been steady and he's confident of putting together another high-class field of drivers from New Zealand and overseas. Of last year's crop of young drivers, Evans has won races in GP3, Englishman Alex Lynn has shown his pace in the British 2.0-litre Renault series and Russian pilot Daniil Kvyat is third in the European Renault series. Another from TRS, Richie Stanaway, has just won his second European title and Brazilian Lucus Foresti finished seventh in the British Formula Three championship.
An added bonus for the new crop of young drivers about to pit their skills against one another is that European based single-seater driver Chris van der Drift is heading back home to New Zealand as part of the M2 Competition team. More's the shame though; he won't be competing but rather acting as a driver-coach for the team. Van der Drift is no stranger to coaching and driver training having been involved with Peter de Bruijns' karting team at European and World karting events and also performance road cars, Formula BMW, Formula Renault, GP2, A1GP, Formula Master, Formula Renault 3.5, Formula Superleague and specialist driving schools.
Now, if the prospect of a whole new bunch of super-fast youngsters, established talent and well-run teams doesn't take your mind off the weeing contest surrounding NZV8s, you may as well take up crochet.
