KEY POINTS:
Wanganui driver Earl Bamber made the most of pole position to win the first Toyota Racing Series at the Hamilton 400 today.
He got a clean start on the damp track and defended a mid-race challenge from Australian Nathan Antunes to lead all the way to the chequered flag.
Second at the end was his International Motorsport team mate Mitch Cunningham, while 2008 Toyota Racing Series champion Andy Knight fought through the field in an epic drive to take third overall.
A rain shower just before the start saw frenzied action in the TRS paddock as teams changed cars onto wet tyres.
Bamber and Cunningham ran a mixed suspension set-up biased toward a pure wet specification.
With the rain gone and the track drying the whole field lined up on wet tyres aiming to use the remaining wet section to keep their tyres cool - except wily Australian Jason Bargwanna, who chose to risk a change to slicks and started from pit lane.
The gamble almost paid off, as the drying conditions enabled him to lap faster than the field and a safety car period at the end of the first lap enabled him to close right up on the field.
When the safety car pulled off the track, he was well placed to make a charge but on the second gear change broke a driveshaft and was out of the race.
Bamber made the most of a clear track and pulled out a two second lead of the field, only Antunes able to stay in touch.
The Australian's challenge faded when he ran over the kerb at the chicane on lap eight, breaking his rear suspension. This enabled Mitch Cunningham to grab second and elevated Daynom "Slim" Templeman to third.
Running fourth was Cambridge driver Nic Jordan, who came under increasing pressure from a charging Andy Knight as the race continued.
Knight had started from sixth place on the grid but been forced to use an "escape" road on the second lap while trying to overtake another car. He found himself 12th and facing a risky fight up through the field - all the while trying to preserve his tyres for a charge at the top three.
"It's always hard to overtake, and more so at a street circuit because there is no room to make a mistake."
Toughest, he said, was getting past Jordan.
"He had a very wide car. I had to back out of a couple of moves when the walls got a bit close."
Eventually, Knight's speed enabled him to get alongside Jordan heading into the chicane, and he pushed through into fourth place on the 12th lap.
The fight then went to the last lap, Knight chasing Templeman and closing the gap remorselessly, Templeman trying desperately to hold him out. A clean launch onto the start-finish straight on the final lap saw Knight draw alongside and put his car's nose in front as they crossed the line.
Stepping up from Formula Ford and in the process of developing plans for a 2009 Toyota Racing Series campaign, rookie Andrew Waite finished sixth and recorded fastest lap of the race, setting the new benchmark for the category at 1:29.4081.
The race was not straightforward for the young Aucklander, who survived a rear end impact from Mark Munro two laps before and said he was worried after the impact that his car's structural integrity might have been compromised.
2008 Formula Ford champion John Whelan did not finish, completing only two of the 16 laps on the testing 3.4 km circuit.
