Race 3 (NZ Motor Cup)
25 laps
It was a dominant display from Liam Lawson as the young Kiwi took victory in the final race of the weekend, whilst championship rival Igor Fraga had to fight through the pack after first-lap contact with Gregoire Saucy. M2 Competition’s Yuki Tsunoda put on a herculean effort to come from 16th on the grid to finish fourth.
Fraga’s race was tipped upside down when Saucy hit the back of his car, causing him to spin coming out of the esses. This saw the Brazilian fall to the rear of the pack. Fortunately, a safety car was deployed to retrieve Lucas Petersson’s front wing, after the Swede had lost it at the exit of turn four, which allowed Fraga to catch back up.
As a result of the contact made, the stewards issued Saucy a drive-through penalty, putting him out of contention.
Lawson established a healthy margin over Franco Colapinto, whilst Fraga stormed through the field; starting from 17th at the safety car restart to eventually finish in eighth. M2 Competition team-mate Tsunoda also put in a strong performance, with an incredible first lap effort jumping eight positions to go from 16th to eighth by the end of the first lap.
Fraga’s momentum ceased momentarily as he was briefly stuck behind the battle of Tiljem van der Helm and Jackson Walls, eventually passing both by the end of race.
Tsunoda climbed a further four places, including an audacious move around the outside of Petr Ptacek going into turn five to secure fourth place.
Meanwhile, Lawson kept extending his lead lap-by-lap, culminating in a 6.946 second gap between himself and second-placed Colapinto to take the New Zealand Motor Cup. To add to the dominant display, he also achieved the fastest lap with a 0.59.995.
Race results
Liam Lawson
Franco Colapinto (+ 6.946)
Lirim Zendeli (+ 10.906)
Yuki Tsunoda (+ 12.010)
Petr Ptacek – (+ 12.942)
Ido Cohen – (+ 13.445)
Caio Collet – (+ 14.561)
Igor Fraga – (+ 16.359)
Tiljem van der Helm (+ 17.607)
Jackson Walls (+ 18.239)
Oliver Rasmussen (+ 18.666)
Spike Kohlbecker (+ 19.545)
Lucas Petersson (+ 20.272)
Henning Enqvist (+ 24.083)
Rui Andrade (+ 26.695)
Axel Gnos (+ 30.987)
Gregoire Saucy (+ 52.194)
DNS. Emilien Denner – (Did Not Start)