2012 New Zealand Grand Prix


The 2012 New Zealand Grand Prix event for open wheel racing cars was held at Manfeild Autocourse near Feilding on 12 February 2012. It was the fifty-seventh New Zealand Grand Prix and was open to Toyota Racing Series cars. The event was also the third race of the fifth round of the 2012 Toyota Racing Series, the final race of the series.
Twenty Tatuus-Toyota cars started the race which was won by 17-year-old New Zealander Nick Cassidy who became the who became the second teenager in as many years to claim the Grand Prix after sixteen-year-old Mitch Evans the previous year.
The Giles Motorsport team dominated the race, filling all three podium positions. Dutch driver Hannes van Asseldonk finished second, 05 seconds behind Cassidy. Third was Austrian driver Lucas Auer. Cassidy inherited the lead after the retirement of fellow Giles Motorsport driver and defending champion Mitch Evans who held a three-second lead when his car failed on lap 28. Completing Giles Motorsport's dominance of the race, Brazilian driver Bruno Bonifacio finished fourth. Nathanaël Berthon was the first driver from any other team, finishing fifth for M2 Competition.
Cassidy's win also wrapped up a success championship campaign for Cassidy, winning his first major championship with the 2012 Toyota Racing Series crown.

Classification

Results:
PosNoDriverTeamCarLapsGap
12 Nick CassidyGiles MotorsportTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota3540m 18.328s
216 Hannes van AsseldonkGiles MotorsportTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota35+0.5
315 Lucas AuerGiles MotorsportTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota35+4.8
45 Bruno BonifacioGiles MotorsportTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota35+7.8
552 Nathanaël BerthonM2 CompetitionTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota35+8.4
67 Jono LesterETEC MotorsportTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota35+11.7
76 Felix SerrallesGiles MotorsportTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota35+12.3
820 Dmitry SuranovichVictory Motor RacingTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota35+18.3
98 Melvin MohETEC MotorsportTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota35+24.2
1043 Tanart SathienthirakulM2 CompetitionTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota35+28.2
114 Chris VlokVictory Motor RacingTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota35+28.3
1288 Michela CerrutiVictory Motor RacingTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota35+28.7
139 Ken SmithETEC MotorsportTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota35+39.9
1451 Sheban SiddiqiM2 CompetitionTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota35+1:01.7
1511 Shahaan EngineerETEC MotorsportTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota34+ 1 lap
1687 Damon LeitchVictory Motor RacingTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota30+ 5 laps
DNF1 Mitch EvansGiles MotorsportTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota28Engine
DNF10 Josh HillETEC MotorsportTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota17
DNF53 Raffaele MarcielloM2 CompetitionTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota15
DNF42 Jordan KingM2 CompetitionTatuus TT104ZZ Toyota4