After a testing Grand Prix weekend to earning a debut podium, Billy Frazer is pleased with his progress in his rookie Toyota Racing Series season.
The reigning national Formula Ford champion had a challenging Grand Prix, salvaging an eighth-place finish in the main race.
Then, one week later, Frazer had a welcome return to form. Missing out on pole position in qualifying by a mere 0.048s, Frazer went on to score his first podium finish of the season.
Frazer credits his rise in form down to focusing on areas of weakness between events and says his sound progression from one round to the next has him proud.
“TRS has definitely had that high level of intensity I had expected from the series,” Frazer told Velocity News.
“It is all about getting on the pace and giving it 100 per cent on the track straight away, which has been challenging.
“Obviously, the Grand Prix didn’t go as well as I had planned. I made some mistakes and would have liked to be a little bit faster.
“But since then, I have made some solid progress with myself and my driving in the car. TRS is a learning class, and while it is the pinnacle of racing in New Zealand, it is all about learning for us young drivers.
“Between rounds, I had a chance to sit down with myself and pick out two or three points I wanted to work on. I feel that doing that gave me the opportunity to improve, and the pace I had that second round proved that.
“I am happy with the progress I have made from when I first started to now. I feel like that podium was a really good bounce back after a tough Grand Prix.”
With this weekend’s meeting at Manfeild acting as the season finale, Frazer will only have one more chance to improve his performance further.
Still, he has knuckled down between events to isolate certain areas that need working on from round two.
“Like last time, I have picked out the few things I want to work on myself.
“I didn’t do any Manfeild testing because of the lockdown situation last year, so it will be interesting to see where we are.
“But I am hoping that I can carry the momentum from round two and see where we end up.”
Frazer comes into this weekend third in the points for drivers completing the full three-round series.
Four races are on the schedule, including two feature races on either day for the Dan Higgins Trophy and Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy.
Main Image: TGRNZ