Young Kiwi’s great double at New Zealand Grand Prix

Media release from MotorSport New Zealand
Sunday 12 February

Young Kiwi’s great double at New Zealand Grand Prix

Nick Cassidy scored great victories in two successive races at the New Zealand Grand Prix meeting at Manfeild today.

First he clinched the Toyota Racing Series – ahead of 15 overseas drivers – with a fifth placing in the morning race and then he won the Grand Prix race itself.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” the 17-year-old Aucklander said.
“Before the race I looked at the Grand Prix trophy and it’s got names like Jackie Stewart and Chris Amon on it. It’s great to get my name on that; it’s a pretty emotional day.”

However his series win – by a large margin from Dutch driver Hannes van Asseldonk – was more important for his career, Cassidy said.

“That’s huge,” he said. “Opportunities come with that. I’m hoping to race in the Australian V8 Supercar Development Series or in Europe this year.”

However the big race brought heartbreak for 2011 winner Mitch Evans, who had won yesterday’s race and finished second in this morning’s heat after starting from sixth on a partially reversed grid.

Evans, who races in the GP3 category in Europe, had a sizable lead in the Grand Prix with seven of the 35 laps to go when his car came down the straight sounding terrible and then stopped.
The visibly upset Evans said the car had started to smell and then misfired badly; he did not know what had caused the failure.

Cassidy came under strong pressure from van Asseldonk late in the race, but managed to pull away slightly and won by a few lengths from the flying Dutchman.

“I caught up and we had a big battle for about three laps but Nick drove very well,” van Asseldonk said.

Austrian Lucas Auer –nephew of former Formula One star Gerhard Berger came third, ahead of Brazilian Bruno Bonifacio, Frenchman Nathanael Berthon and Aucklander Jono Lester.

British driver Josh Hill ran fourth but retired with a mechanical failure. He still finished fourth in the series, one place behind Invercargill driver Damon Leitch.

This morning’s race was won by Felix Serralles from Puerto Rico.

In the BNT New Zealand V8s Tim Edgell bounced back from a disastrous meeting at Timaru to win two of the races and the overall round victory in his black Ford Falcon.

“My father [Randell] makes a fantastic engine,” Edgell said, and indeed his car was fast on the straights.

Fellow Aucklander Angus Fogg was happy enough to finish second overall, with a win in the reverse-grid race and two seconds, as he increased his series lead over Australian V8 Supercar driver Jason Bargwanna. These two also drove Fords.

Bargwanna was upset to receive a drive-through penalty for hitting Steve Taylor in race two. He said rookie Taylor had slowed unexpectedly in front of him.

The V8 series concludes at Taupo next month.

MOTOR RACING
New Zealand motor racing championships, round five, Manfeild
Toyota Racing Series – Race one: Mitch Evans (Auckland) 1; Hannes van Asseldonk (Netherlands) 2; Nick Cassidy (Auckland) 3; Lucas Auer (Austria) 4; Josh Hill (England) 5; Felix Serralles (Puerto Rico) 6.
Race two: Serralles1; Evans 2; Hill 3; Auer 4; Cassidy 5; Nathaenel Berthon (France) 6.
Race three, New Zealand Grand Prix: Cassidy 1; van Asseldonk 2; Auer 3; Bruno Bonifacio 4; Berthon 5; Jono Lester (Auckland) 6.
Final series points: 1 Cassidy 914, 2 van Asseldonk 738, 3 Damon Leitch (Invercargill) 633, 4 Hill 629, 5 Jordan King (UK) 591, 6 Auer 589.
BNT NZ V8s – Race one:
Tim Edgell (Auckland) Ford 1; Angus Fogg (Auckland) Ford 2; Jason Bargwanna (Australia) Ford 3; Martin Short (Hamilton) Ford 4; Simon Richards (Hamilton) Ford 5; Haydn Mackenzie (Auckland) Ford 6.
Race two (reverse grid): Fogg 1; Edgell 2; Andrew Anderson (Auckland) Holden 3; Simon Evans (Auckland) Ford 4; Nick Ross (Cambridge) Holden 5; Mackenzie 6.
Race three: Edgell 1; Fogg 2; Bargwanna 3; Short 4; Evans 5; Mackenzie 6.
Points after five of six rounds: 1 Fogg 1043; 2 Bargwanna 917, 3 Edgell 800, 4= Richards and Short both 705; 6 Ross 645.