2011 New Zealand Grand Prix

The 2011 New Zealand Grand Prix event for open wheel racing cars was held at Manfeild Autocourse near Feilding on 13 February 2011. It was the fifty-sixth New Zealand Grand Prix and was open to Toyota Racing Series cars. The event was also the third race of the fourth round of the 2011 Toyota Racing Series.

2011 New Zealand Grand Prix
Race 3, Round 4 of 5 of the 2011 Toyota Racing Series
Race details
Date 13 February 2011
Official name LVI New Zealand Grand Prix
Location Manfeild Autocourse, Feilding, New Zealand
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 3.033 km (1.885 miles)
Distance 35 laps, 106.16 km (65.96 miles)
Weather Fine
Pole position
Driver
Giles Motorsport
Time 1:04.141
Fastest lap
Driver New Zealand Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport
Time 1:04.509 on lap 31
Podium
First
Giles Motorsport
Second
Victory Motor Racing
Third
ETEC Motorsport

Sixteen Tatuus-Toyota cars started the race which was won by 16-year-old New Zealander Mitch Evans who became the youngest ever winner of the New Zealand Grand Prix[1] and who is believed to have become the youngest driver to win an international grand prix anywhere in the world.[2] The Giles Motorsport driver won by three seconds from another 16-year-old competitor, Russian Daniil Kvyat, of Victory Motor Racing. Australian ETEC Motorsport driver Scott Pye was third.

Evans started from pole position alongside Nick Cassidy[3] and won the drag race to the first corner. Evans, Cassidy, Kvyat and Pye quickly built a gap on the field.

On lap 16 Cassidy spun, bringing to an end to the direct threat to the lead held by Evans who controlled the second half of the race from the front to win from Kvyat and Pye.[4] British driver and grandson of 1964 and 1965 NZ Grand Prix winner, Josh Hill finished fourth winning a battle for the position with Australian Nick Foster. German driver Mario Farnbacher was sixth also winning his position battle with Russian Ivan Lukashevich. Cassidy finished a disappointing eighth ahead of Kotaro Sakurai and Jordan Skinner. New Zealand open-wheel legend Ken Smith also completed full race distance. Jamie McNee was the only other driver to be classified.

Defending race champion Earl Bamber, a late entry into the race, withdrew on lap 19.

Classification

Qualifying
PosNo.DriverTeamTimeGrid
1 1 New Zealand Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport 1:03.965 1
2 7 New Zealand Nick Cassidy Giles Motorsport 1:04.131 2
3 19 Australia Scott Pye ETEC Motorsport 1:04.177 3
4 13 Australia Nick Foster Giles Motorsport 1:04.244 4
5 29 Russia Daniil Kvyat Victory Motor Racing 1:04.616 5
6 20 United Kingdom Josh Hill ETEC Motorsport 1:04.660 6
7 36 United Kingdom Alex Lynn Giles Motorsport 1:04.695 7
8 5 Russia Ivan Lukashevich M2 Competition 1:04.699 8
9 87 New Zealand Damon Leitch Victory Motor Racing 1:04.788 9
10 48 Germany Mario Farnbacher Giles Motorsport 1:04.820 10
11 8 New Zealand Jamie McNee ETEC Motorsport 1:04.898 11
12 17 New Zealand Alastair Wootten DART International 1:04.955 12
13 2 New Zealand Earl Bamber Earl Bamber Motorsport 1:04.999 13
14 4 Japan Kotaro Sakurai M2 Competition 1:05.228 14
- 11 New Zealand Ken Smith Ken Smith Motorsport no time PL
- 22 Australia Jordan Skinner M2 Competition no time PL
Source(s):[5]

Race
PosNo.DriverTeamLapsTime/RetiredGap
1 1 New Zealand Mitch Evans Giles Motorsport 35 38min 55.818sec 1
2 29 Russia Daniil Kvyat Victory Motor Racing 35 + 3.229 s 5
3 19 Australia Scott Pye ETEC Motorsport 35 + 5.882 s 3
4 20 United Kingdom Josh Hill ETEC Motorsport 35 + 13.970 s 6
5 13 Australia Nick Foster Giles Motorsport 35 + 14.338 s 4
6 48 Germany Mario Farnbacher Giles Motorsport 35 + 16.463 s 10
7 5 Russia Ivan Lukashevich M2 Competition 35 + 16.870 s 8
8 7 New Zealand Nick Cassidy Giles Motorsport 35 + 21.363 s 2
9 4 Japan Kotaro Sakurai M2 Competition 35 + 24.581 s 14
10 22 Australia Jordan Skinner M2 Competition 35 + 26.444 s 16
11 11 New Zealand Ken Smith Ken Smith Motorsport 35 + 39.627 s 15
12 8 New Zealand Jamie McNee ETEC Motorsport 32 + 3 laps 11
Ret 2 New Zealand Earl Bamber Earl Bamber Motorsport 18 Retired 13
Ret 17 New Zealand Alastair Wootten DART International 14 Retired 12
Ret 36 United Kingdom Alex Lynn Giles Motorsport 13 Retired 7
Ret 87 New Zealand Damon Leitch Victory Motor Racing 1 Retired 9
Source(s):[6]

References
  1. "Toyota GAZOO Racing New Zealand".
  2. "Formula One's Next Big Thing". Forbes. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  3. "Toyota GAZOO Racing New Zealand" (PDF).
  4. Martinez, Peter (13 February 2011). "Mitch Evans youngest NZ Grand Prix winner". Stuff. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  5. "Q7c - TRS Qualifying session Super Pole". Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  6. "R20 - TRS (3) NZ Grand Prix 35 laps". Retrieved 6 June 2022.
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