The 2018 Castrol Toyota Racing Series was the fourteenth running of the Toyota Racing Series, the premier open-wheel motorsport category held in New Zealand. The series consisted of fifteen races at five meetings. It began on 13 January at Ruapuna Park in Christchurch, and concluded on 11 February with the 63rd running of the New Zealand Grand Prix, at Circuit Chris Amon in Feilding.

M2 Competition driver Robert Shwartzman won the title, being the only driver who finished in the top-five every race of the season. His teammates (and series returnees) Richard Verschoor and Marcus Armstrong had more podium finishes and race wins, but were not as consistent as Shwartzman. Another M2 driver Juan Manuel Correa raced his first season in the series, but was not considered as a rookie due to his GP3 Series experience, and he won races at Teretonga and Taupō; he finished fourth in the standings. Giles Motorsport driver Clément Novalak was the highest placed rookie who conformed series regulations, winning races at Teretonga and Hampton Downs and completed the top-five in the championship.

Teams and drivers

Team Driver Status Rounds Giles Motorsport 4 Reid Harker All 17 Clément Novalak All MTEC Motorsport 5 Ryan Yardley All 11 Taylor Cockerton All 52 Charles Milesi All M2 Competition 7 Richard Verschoor All 9 Marcus Armstrong All 15 James Pull All 35 Robert Shwartzman All 68 Juan Manuel Correa All Victory Motor Racing 28 Cameron Das All 44 Calvin Ming 1–3 47 Ken Smith 5 86 Brendon Leitch All

Race calendar and results The calendar for the series was announced on 22 June 2017, and was held over five successive weekends in January and February.

Round Date Circuit Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Report 1 R1 13 January Mike Pero Motorsport Park, Christchurch Robert Shwartzman Robert Shwartzman Richard Verschoor M2 Competition Marcus Armstrong Report R2 14 January Richard Verschoor Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition R3 Robert Shwartzman Marcus Armstrong Marcus Armstrong M2 Competition 2 R1 20 January Teretonga Park, Invercargill Clément Novalak Clément Novalak Richard Verschoor M2 Competition Marcus Armstrong Report R2 21 January Clément Novalak Juan Manuel Correa M2 Competition R3 Marcus Armstrong Clément Novalak Clément Novalak Giles Motorsport 3 R1 27 January Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Waikato Richard Verschoor Richard Verschoor Richard Verschoor M2 Competition Richard Verschoor Report R2 28 January Juan Manuel Correa Clément Novalak Giles Motorsport R3 Richard Verschoor Robert Shwartzman Richard Verschoor M2 Competition 4 R1 3 February Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupō Juan Manuel Correa Juan Manuel Correa Juan Manuel Correa M2 Competition Richard Verschoor Report R2 4 February Brendon Leitch Brendon Leitch Victory Motor Racing R3 Robert Shwartzman Robert Shwartzman Robert Shwartzman M2 Competition 5 R1 10 February Circuit Chris Amon, Feilding Richard Verschoor Richard Verschoor Richard Verschoor M2 Competition Richard Verschoor Report R2 11 February Brendon Leitch Brendon Leitch Victory Motor Racing R3 Richard Verschoor Richard Verschoor Richard Verschoor M2 Competition

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 TER HMP TAU MAN Points 1 Robert Shwartzman 2 3 2 2 4 4 4 2 3 4 5 1 2 4 2 916 2 Richard Verschoor 1 2 Ret 1 6 3 1 5 1 3 3 3 1 3 1 911 3 Marcus Armstrong 3 1 1 3 3 2 2 3 2 5 4 2 5 5 7 901 4 Juan Manuel Correa 10 6 8 6 1 7 3 4 4 1 9 4 6 6 4 756 5 Clément Novalak 4 10 6 4 5 1 5 1 9 10 10 Ret 3 2 6 711 6 James Pull 5 11 3 5 2 6 7 7 5 2 8 7 8 8 10 692 7 Brendon Leitch 12 Ret 4 7 8 5 9 6 Ret 8 1 5 4 1 5 634 8 Reid Harker 8 8 12 8 13 10 6 9 12 6 7 12 9 9 9 538 9 Ryan Yardley 13 9 9 12 11 13 13 10 11 7 2 9 7 12 8 525 10 Taylor Cockerton 6 4 11 11 10 12 8 8 10 9 6 9 10 10 Ret 514 11 Charles Milesi 9 7 5 13 12 11 10 Ret 6 11 12 8 12 11 3 504 12 Cameron Das 11 Ret 7 9 7 8 11 Ret 7 Ret 11 6 11 7 11 438 13 Calvin Ming 7 5 10 10 9 9 12 11 10 320 14 Ken Smith 13 13 12 80 Pos. Driver RUA TER HMP TAU MAN PointsBold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap Rookie

Footnotes

References