Motorsport: Cassidy, Evans set to duel for GP title

Hayden Paddon was out again yesterday testing his new Skodia Fabia S2000 in the Swedish snow. Photo / Honza Fronek

The New Zealand Grand Prix, being held at Manfeild this weekend, is one of only two Grand Prix run outside the grasp of Formula One (the other is Macau) and is the first GP meeting on the FIA international motor sport calendar.

The New Zealand Grand Prix is part of the Toyota Racing Series and is one of the biggest prizes for those drivers contesting the TRS class. The meeting is also the last round of the TRS championship and it's the young Aucklander Nick Cassidy who sits on top of the table with a 126-point buffer over the hard-charging man from the Netherlands, Hannes van Asseldonk.

Another Kiwi, Damon Leitch, sits in third ahead of 14 other international drivers and a couple of fellow Kiwis. Leitch had a horror round at Hampton Downs last time out and will be looking to snatch second place back.

With three races over the weekend each worth 75 points, Cassidy isn't sitting back thinking the championship is a done deal. He knows he'll have to be on his game if he wants to be crowned series winner come tomorrow afternoon.

"I want to go as fast as I can in qualifying, win race one and then race two," said Cassidy. "Then of course there's race three [the NZGP] which I really want to win.

"Everyone's going to be more competitive this weekend and because of the nature of the track everyone's going to be a lot closer. You'll find the difference between first and eighth, especially in qualifying, will be very tight."

While Cassidy will be keeping an eye on those in with a chance of winning the series, he'll be very aware of defending NZGP champion Mitch Evans who, while not contesting the entire series, is keen to get his name on the trophy again.

Evans won races in GP3 last year and was back to his winning ways last weekend at Hampton Downs winning race one in what he said was preparation for his NZGP defence.

"Every time you're in a car you learn something," said Evans. "I learned bucketloads technically and that's made me better at passing information on to engineers. I'm just better overall, to be honest."

Evans has the pedigree to win again but Cassidy, who finished runner-up to Evans in last year's TRS, has the upper hand having contested all the rounds to Evans' one.

"I can't lift off for a single second and will keep pushing hard to get the best result I can but I sure don't want a DNF," said Cassidy. "The first two races will be the most important to get enough points to be safe."

It is a strong field with the international drivers getting faster with each race. Those in with a chance to winning the NZGP include former F1 champion Damon Hill's son Josh from Britain, Ferrari Driver Academy pilot Raffaele Marciello from Italy, former F1 race-winner Gerhard Berger's nephew Lucas Auer from Austria, BRDC award winner Jordan King and of course van Asseldonk who's second in the series.

"I think there are 10 or 12 guys that are very fast. If you win the Grand Prix it means you've done a very good job against these strong guys," said Cassidy.

The meeting is also the penultimate round of the BNT NZV8s, veteran stager Angus Fogg holding a solid lead over Australian V8 Supercar driver Jason Bargwanna. Fogg will not let his guard down one bit as he had the championship snatched away from him at the last minute in 2011. And with six races to go anything can happen.

"I thought we had the trophy last year so I'm not being complacent about anything. I must say though we're looking pretty good at the moment," said Fogg.

"If it's a wet weekend at Manfeild anything could happen. I'm happy with the car as it's right in the sweet spot."

Find of the series Martin Short holds third.

TRS points
Nick Cassidy 730
Hannes van Asseldonk 604
Damon Leitch 587
Josh Hill 520
Jordan King 516
BNT NZV8 points
Angus Fogg 834
Jason Bargwanna 758
Martin Short 597
Tim Edgell 583
Simon Richards 578