A wet track and wheelspin off the line ruined Auckland schoolboy racer Mitch Evans’ perfect weekend as the Dan Higgins Trophy race got under way this afternoon at Manfeild near Palmerston North. 

Evans had qualified on pole for the race, but Earl Bamber had the better start and swept into the lead with Estonian driver Sten Pentus snatching second and forcing Evans back to third heading into the first corner. 

Columns of spray whipped up by the cars’ heavily treaded wet tyres meant most of the field entered the corner driving “blind” behind the first two cars. 

Evans had no answer to the speed of Pentus and Bamber in front of him as the field headed into the second lap.  Daniel Jilesen speared off the track at Higgins, the right hand corner that leads onto the back straight, but was able to recover and continue. 

Then on the next lap Evans lost grip on the exit of Toyota, spun sideways and stalled broadside across the track.  He rejoined in last place.  In the same lap, Pentus went off at Higgins, recovering one place down. 

Bamber retained the lead and had pulled slightly clear of the pack when Jamie McNee went off at the same part of the Higgins corner that had already claimed Pentus and Jilesen.  He was not able to regain the track, bringing the safety car out while marshals extracted his car from the gravel trap. 

As the safety car left the track, Bamber found himself under attack from Pentus, Stefan Webling and Richie Stanaway. 

He held the lead down the front straight, through Toyota and the infield “esses”, then left the track at Higgins. 

Webling took the lead ahead of Stanaway and Pentus, but the safety car was sent out again and slowed the field once more.  A lap later, it was Webling’s turn to feel the pressure of the pack behind him, and he went off at Toyota, handing Richie Stanaway the lead. 

Stanaway stretched out a two second lead over second-placed Sten Pentus and Alistair Wootten. 

Andrew Waite followed in fourth place; with local driver Sam MacNeill fifth. 

Wootton, Waite and MacNeill had all benefited from the series of off-track excursions that played out in front of them, and made no similar mistakes as the race progressed. 

Stanaway held on for the race win with Pentus second, Wootten third, Sam MacNeill fourth and a recovering Earl Bamber fifth. 

The Dan Higgins Trophy is named after the founder of the earthmoving company, a long-time supporter of Manfeild.  It carries a prize purse across the top finishers of $5,000.   

First awarded in 1975, it has been part of the Toyota Racing Series since the series began.   

The first driver to win the Dan Higgins Trophy, in 1975, was Brett Riley.  Other famous names on the trophy include Scott Dixon, Brady Kennett, and current Red Bull/Toro Rosso Formula One reserve driver Brendon Hartley who has won the trophy twice, in 2003 and 2006. 

Current TRS competitor Ken Smith won the trophy in 1994 and 1995 and is the only former holder of the trophy racing this weekend. 

On Sunday, the on-track action starts at 11.40 with a 12 lap race, followed in the afternoon at 2.20 pm by the New Zealand Grand Prix.  By 3.00 pm the newest name to be inscribed on this historic trophy will be known.

Media: Veritas Communications Photo: Bruce Jenkins