2015 Toyota Racing Series

The 2015 Toyota Racing Series was the eleventh running of the Toyota Racing Series, the premier open-wheeler motorsport category held in New Zealand. The series, which consisted of sixteen races at five meetings, began on 14 January at Ruapuna Park in Christchurch, and ended on 15 February with the 60th running of the New Zealand Grand Prix, at Manfeild Autocourse in Feilding.

2015 Toyota Racing Series
Previous: 2014 Next: 2016

With a third-place finish in the penultimate race of the season at Manfeild, Canadian driver Lance Stroll – driving for M2 Competition – clinched the championship title, having amassed an unassailable 93-point lead ahead of the final race. Stroll won three of the first four races to be held in the series at Ruapuna and Teretonga (taking the round wins at both circuits) before consistent finishing for the remainder of the campaign allowed him to maintain his championship lead throughout. Stroll added his fourth win of the season in the final race, the New Zealand Grand Prix, becoming the first Canadian to win the Grand Prix. M2 Competition team-mate Brandon Maïsano finished the season as runner-up, 108 points in arrears of Stroll. Maïsano won five races during the season – the most of all drivers – with a win at each meeting except for Teretonga, while taking the round win at Hampton Downs.

Third place in the championship went to Santino Ferrucci, for the Giles Motorsport team. Ferrucci took five podium finishes before taking his first victory at Manfeild, in the second race. He finished 33 points behind Maïsano and 141 behind Stroll. Four other drivers took race victories during the 2015 season as Arjun Maini (M2 Competition) and Sam MacLeod (Giles Motorsport) each won two races – both at Hampton Downs and Taupo respectively – as they completed the top five in the drivers' championship, with MacLeod taking the round wins at Taupo and Manfeild. Two drivers from New Zealand also won races, both coming at Teretonga Park as Jamie Conroy – another M2 Competition driver – and Brendon Leitch, for Victory Motor Racing, both achieved their first victories in the series. Only ETEC Motorsport failed to take a race win, with a pair of third places from Thomas Randle being their best result.

Teams and drivers

All teams were New-Zealand registered.

Team No. Driver Status Rounds
Giles Motorsport 4 Alfonso Celis Jr.[1] R All
5 Sam MacLeod[1] R All
7 Dzhon Simonyan[1] R 1–3
Sérgio Sette Câmara R 4–5
10 Santino Ferrucci[1] R All
21 Artem Markelov[2] R All
40 James Munro[3] All
M2 Competition 8 Mathias Kristensen[1] R All
18 Lance Stroll[2] R All
19 Brandon Maïsano R All
23 Jamie Conroy[4] R All
28 Charlie Eastwood[1] R All
36 Arjun Maini[1] R All
Victory Motor Racing 11 Stefan Riener[1] R All
62 Ferdinand Habsburg[1] R All
86 Brendon Leitch[1] All
87 Damon Leitch[2] All
ETEC Motorsport 12 Matteo Ferrer[1] R All
17 Nikita Mazepin[1] R All
49 Thomas Randle[5] R All
53 Callum Ilott[6] R All

Race calendar and results

The calendar for the series was announced on 14 July 2014, and was held over five successive weekends in January and February.[7] The event at Taupo Motorsport Park was held as a quadruple-header,[8] the first such instance for the series.

Round Date Circuit Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Round winner(s)
1 R1 17 January Ruapuna Park, Christchurch Brandon Maïsano Stefan Riener Lance Stroll M2 Competition Lance Stroll
R2 18 January Brandon Maïsano Brandon Maïsano M2 Competition
R3 Sam MacLeod Sam MacLeod Lance Stroll M2 Competition
2 R1 24 January Teretonga Park, Invercargill Matteo Ferrer Lance Stroll Lance Stroll M2 Competition Lance Stroll
R2 25 January Santino Ferrucci Jamie Conroy M2 Competition
R3 Brendon Leitch Santino Ferrucci Brendon Leitch Victory Motor Racing
3 R1 31 January Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Waikato Arjun Maini Arjun Maini Arjun Maini M2 Competition Brandon Maïsano
R2 1 February Ferdinand Habsburg Brandon Maïsano M2 Competition
R3 Brandon Maïsano Arjun Maini Sam MacLeod Giles Motorsport
4 R1 7 February Taupo Motorsport Park, Taupo Arjun Maini Thomas Randle Sam MacLeod Giles Motorsport Sam MacLeod
R2 Brandon Maïsano Brandon Maïsano M2 Competition
R3 8 February Brandon Maïsano Brandon Maïsano Brandon Maïsano M2 Competition
R4 Arjun Maini Charlie Eastwood Arjun Maini M2 Competition
5 R1 14 February Manfeild Autocourse, Feilding Brandon Maïsano Brandon Maïsano Brandon Maïsano M2 Competition Sam MacLeod
R2 15 February Callum Ilott Santino Ferrucci Giles Motorsport
R3 Arjun Maini Brandon Maïsano Lance Stroll M2 Competition

Championship standings

In order for a driver to score championship points, they had to complete at least 75% of the race winner's distance, and be running at the race's completion. All races counted towards the final championship standings.

Scoring system
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th
Points 75 67 60 54 49 45 42 39 36 33 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12

Drivers' championship
Pos. Driver RUA TER HMP TAU MAN Points
1 Lance Stroll 1 4 1 1 3 3 Ret 5 2 3 4 2 11 6 3 1 906
2 Brandon Maïsano 5 1 Ret 12 11 6 2 1 3 6 1 1 Ret 1 8 3 798
3 Santino Ferrucci 7 5 4 Ret 17 2 3 3 5 2 2 8 16 5 1 5 765
4 Arjun Maini 2 6 2 9 7 4 1 16 4 12 14 4 1 2 17 14 750
5 Sam MacLeod Ret 8 5 Ret 13 5 Ret 9 1 1 6 3 5 3 2 4 684
6 Damon Leitch 15 9 14 8 9 13 5 6 18 8 8 5 6 12 16 10 546
7 Charlie Eastwood 4 2 Ret 14 12 10 12 14 15 NC 9 7 3 15 12 2 535
8 Artem Markelov Ret Ret 3 5 2 7 7 Ret 6 14 Ret Ret 2 7 7 6 525
9 James Munro 13 10 12 2 4 9 6 Ret 9 7 Ret 6 4 9 Ret 16 522
10 Thomas Randle 3 14 6 11 8 8 Ret 8 7 4 3 Ret 9 19 Ret 9 518
11 Mathias Kristensen 9 12 10 10 10 14 9 4 19 11 7 14 7 14 10 18 502
12 Ferdinand Habsburg 6 3 Ret 7 6 12 10 2 11 15 16 16 14 11 14 Ret 490
13 Stefan Riener 11 15 7 3 Ret DNS 13 7 10 9 5 15 Ret 10 5 8 483
14 Brendon Leitch 10 Ret 9 4 5 1 DSQ 11 16 NC 11 10 8 13 11 15 477
15 Jamie Conroy 12 11 13 6 1 11 NC 13 14 Ret 13 11 13 18 9 12 446
16 Callum Ilott 16 NC Ret 15 14 Ret 4 12 17 Ret 12 12 12 4 4 Ret 358
17 Alfonso Celis Jr. 8 7 8 DNS Ret DNS Ret 10 12 10 Ret 18 10 17 15 13 329
18 Nikita Mazepin Ret 13 Ret 13 16 15 11 Ret 8 13 10 17 15 20 Ret 11 304
19 Matteo Ferrer 14 16 11 Ret 15 NC Ret 15 13 Ret 17 9 Ret 16 13 7 286
20 Sérgio Sette Câmara 5 15 13 Ret 8 6 17 199
21 Dzhon Simonyan Ret Ret DNS DNS 18 Ret 8 NC Ret 55
Pos. Driver RUA TER HMP TAU MAN Points
ColourResult
GoldWinner
Silver2nd place
Bronze3rd place
GreenPoints finish
BlueNon-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
PurpleRetired (Ret)
RedDid not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
BlackDisqualified (DSQ)
WhiteDid not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not participate (DNP)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap

References
  1. "Markelov e Stroll nella Toyota Racing Series" [Markelov and Stroll in the Toyota Racing Series]. Italiaracing (in Italian). Inpagina. 16 December 2014. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  2. "The names of the future — racing here today". Toyota Racing Series. 13 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  3. Khorounzhiy, Valentin (4 December 2014). "FMCS champion Munro confirms Toyota Racing Series return". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  4. Khorounzhiy, Valentin (16 December 2014). "NZ Formula Ford champion Conroy joins Toyota Racing Series". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  5. Khorounzhiy, Valentin (6 December 2014). "Thomas Randle joins ETEC for 2015 Toyota Racing Series campaign". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  6. Khorounzhiy, Valentin (28 December 2014). "Karting star Ilott joins TRS for car debut". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  7. "TOYOTA RACING SERIES ANNOUNCES 2015 CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR". MotorSport New Zealand. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  8. "2015 Toyota Racing Series Championship Articles" (PDF). MotorSport New Zealand. MotorSport New Zealand Inc. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2015. 7.4.1 (b): The races available at Round 4 will be; Saturday afternoon – Race One and Race Two, Sunday afternoon – Race Three and Race Four.
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