# 2016 Toyota Racing Series

The 2016 Toyota Racing Series was the twelfth running of the Toyota Racing Series, the premier open-wheel motorsport category held in New Zealand. The series, which consisted of fifteen races at five meetings, began on 16 January at Ruapuna Park in Christchurch, and ended on 14 February with the 61st running of the New Zealand Grand Prix, at Manfeild Autocourse in Feilding.
As the first European driver to win the Toyota Racing Series, M2 Competition's Lando Norris wrapped up the championship with a race to spare, amassing six wins, eight poles, five fastest laps, and three round wins on his way to the title. Norris won a race at every meeting, taking a pair of victories in Taupō, while only finishing off the podium four times.
Force India protégé Jehan Daruvala took the runner-up spot in the championship, with one pole and three wins. Daruvala struggled in Ruapuna, but a strategic tyre gamble in a soggy Race 3 paid off, enabling him to take the Lady Wigram Trophy, despite starting 15th. Two further wins followed in Teretonga and Taupō, and solid top-8 finishes in each of the last nine races helped the Indian to second place overall.
New Zealand's Brendon Leitch finished the season in a strong third, despite only one win and three podiums. However, it was his amazing consistency that gave him such a good championship position, as he finished every race in the top 10. Leitch's 754-point haul is also the most points accrued by a Victory Motor Racing driver in team history.
Of the other drivers, Ferdinand Habsburg was top Giles Motorsport driver, after a strong campaign saw him take two wins. Pedro Piquet also took victory on two occasions, first in the second race at Teretonga, and again at Hampton Downs, where a superb run from pole saw him take the NZ Motor Cup. Piquet was often runaway leader Norris's main challenger, both on track and in the standings. Ferrari Driver Academy member Guanyu Zhou scored a breakthrough win in Hampton Downs and finished strongly throughout the duration of the series, although a disastrous final weekend compromised his attack. Rookie Taylor Cockerton was the best-placed ETEC Motorsport driver, finishing in ninth.

## Teams and drivers

All teams were New Zealand-registered.
| Team | No. | Driver | Status | Rounds |
| ETEC Motorsport | 4 | Theo Bean | R | All |
| ETEC Motorsport | 11 | Taylor Cockerton | R | All |
| ETEC Motorsport | 13 | Rodrigo Baptista | R | All |
| ETEC Motorsport | 26 | Timothé Buret | R | All |
| M2 Competition | 5 | Pedro Piquet | | All |
| M2 Competition | 6 | Jehan Daruvala | R | All |
| M2 Competition | 10 | Artem Markelov | | All |
| M2 Competition | 15 | Kami Laliberté | R | All |
| M2 Competition | 31 | Lando Norris | R | All |
| M2 Competition | 33 | Guanyu Zhou | R | All |
| Giles Motorsport | 17 | Devlin DeFrancesco | R | All |
| Giles Motorsport | 21 | Nicolas Dapero | R | All |
| Giles Motorsport | 23 | Will Owen | R | All |
| Giles Motorsport | 40 | James Munro | | All |
| Giles Motorsport | 62 | Ferdinand Habsburg | | All |
| Giles Motorsport | 67 | Antoni Ptak Jr. | R | All |
| Victory Motor Racing | 18 | Julian Hanses | R | All |
| Victory Motor Racing | 25 | Bruno Baptista | R | All |
| Victory Motor Racing | 49 | Thomas Randle | | 5 |
| Victory Motor Racing | 86 | Brendon Leitch | | All |

## Race calendar and results

The calendar for the series was announced on 23 June 2015, and will be held over five successive weekends in January and February. As opposed to the previous year, all rounds will be triple-headers.
| Round | Round | Date | Circuit | Pole position | Fastest lap | Winning driver | Winning team | Round winner(s) | Report |
| 1 | R1 | 16 January | Ruapuna Park, Christchurch | Lando Norris | Lando Norris | Ferdinand Habsburg | Giles Motorsport | Ferdinand Habsburg | Report |
| 1 | R2 | 17 January | Ruapuna Park, Christchurch | | Lando Norris | Lando Norris | M2 Competition | Ferdinand Habsburg | Report |
| 1 | R3 | 17 January | Ruapuna Park, Christchurch | Lando Norris | Pedro Piquet | Jehan Daruvala | M2 Competition | Ferdinand Habsburg | Report |
| 2 | R1 | 23 January | Teretonga Park, Invercargill | Lando Norris | Jehan Daruvala | Jehan Daruvala | M2 Competition | Lando Norris | Report |
| 2 | R2 | 24 January | Teretonga Park, Invercargill | | Lando Norris | Pedro Piquet | M2 Competition | Lando Norris | Report |
| 2 | R3 | 24 January | Teretonga Park, Invercargill | Lando Norris | Lando Norris | Lando Norris | M2 Competition | Lando Norris | Report |
| 3 | R1 | 30 January | Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Waikato | Lando Norris | Jehan Daruvala | Lando Norris | M2 Competition | Pedro Piquet | Report |
| 3 | R2 | 31 January | Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Waikato | | Guanyu Zhou | Guanyu Zhou | M2 Competition | Pedro Piquet | Report |
| 3 | R3 | 31 January | Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Waikato | Pedro Piquet | Ferdinand Habsburg | Pedro Piquet | M2 Competition | Pedro Piquet | Report |
| 4 | R1 | 6 February | Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupō | Lando Norris | Pedro Piquet | Lando Norris | M2 Competition | Lando Norris | Report |
| 4 | R2 | 7 February | Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupō | | Jehan Daruvala | Jehan Daruvala | M2 Competition | Lando Norris | Report |
| 4 | R3 | 7 February | Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupō | Lando Norris | Lando Norris | Lando Norris | M2 Competition | Lando Norris | Report |
| 5 | R1 | 13 February | Manfeild Autocourse, Feilding | Jehan Daruvala | James Munro | Ferdinand Habsburg | Giles Motorsport | Lando Norris | Report |
| 5 | R2 | 14 February | Manfeild Autocourse, Feilding | | Pedro Piquet | Brendon Leitch | Victory Motor Racing | Lando Norris | Report |
| 5 | R3 | 14 February | Manfeild Autocourse, Feilding | Lando Norris | Ferdinand Habsburg | Lando Norris | M2 Competition | Lando Norris | Report |

## Championship standings

In order for a driver to score championship points, they have 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 | RUA | RUA | TER | TER | TER | HMP | HMP | HMP | TAU | TAU | TAU | MAN | MAN | MAN | Points |
| 1 | Lando Norris | 3 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 924 |
| 2 | Jehan Daruvala | 8 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 17 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 789 |
| 3 | Brendon Leitch | 6 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 754 |
| 4 | Ferdinand Habsburg | 1 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 727 |
| 5 | Pedro Piquet | 7 | 2 | Ret | 4 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | Ret | 8 | 15 | 710 |
| 6 | Guanyu Zhou | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | Ret | 10 | 17 | 685 |
| 7 | James Munro | 4 | Ret | 14 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 4 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 621 |
| 8 | Artem Markelov | 2 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 12 | Ret | 5 | 12 | 7 | Ret | Ret | 12 | 2 | 588 |
| 9 | Taylor Cockerton | 9 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 545 |
| 10 | Devlin DeFrancesco | 14 | 10 | 6 | Ret | 14 | 5 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 465 |
| 11 | Bruno Baptista | Ret | 8 | 8 | Ret | 13 | 6 | 9 | 7 | Ret | 10 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 443 |
| 12 | Antoni Ptak Jr. | 13 | 5 | 12 | 3 | Ret | 15 | 8 | 5 | 11 | Ret | Ret | 14 | 8 | 3 | Ret | 426 |
| 13 | Kami Laliberté | Ret | 14 | 7 | Ret | 16 | 7 | 17 | 6 | 7 | 11 | Ret | 9 | 14 | 14 | 8 | 386 |
| 14 | Will Owen | 11 | 12 | Ret | 10 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 10 | Ret | 13 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 14 | 357 |
| 15 | Timothé Buret | 10 | 6 | 15 | 14 | 11 | Ret | 13 | 15 | 13 | 16 | Ret | 13 | 10 | 13 | 18 | 349 |
| 16 | Rodrigo Baptista | Ret | 16 | 13 | 9 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 17 | Ret | Ret | 11 | 16 | 11 | 286 |
| 17 | Nicolas Dapero | 12 | DSQ | 10 | 8 | 7 | 18 | 19 | Ret | Ret | 14 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 15 | 16 | 238 |
| 18 | Theo Bean | 16 | 17 | Ret | 12 | 17 | 14 | 18 | 12 | Ret | 15 | 13 | 15 | Ret | 18 | Ret | 238 |
| 19 | Julian Hanses | 15 | 15 | Ret | Ret | 15 | 12 | 14 | 16 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 16 | 13 | 19 | 12 | 226 |
| 20 | Thomas Randle | | | | | | | | | | | | | 12 | 20 | 5 | 89 |
| Pos. | Driver | RUA | RUA | RUA | TER | TER | TER | HMP | HMP | HMP | TAU | TAU | TAU | MAN | MAN | MAN | Points |
| Colour | Result |
| Gold | Winner |
| Silver | Second place |
| Bronze | Third place |
| Green | Points finish |
| Blue | Non-points finish |
| Blue | Non-classified finish (NC) |
| Purple | Retired (Ret) |
| Red | Did not qualify (DNQ) |
| Red | Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) |
| Black | Disqualified (DSQ) |
| White | Did not start (DNS) |
| White | Withdrew (WD) |
| White | Race cancelled (C) |
| Blank | Did not practice (DNP) |
| Blank | Did not arrive (DNA) |
| Blank | Excluded (EX) |
* Rookie