15-year-old Mitch Evans, from Auckland, won the 2010 Toyota Racing Series – New Zealand’s premier single seater Gold Star racing championship - when took two seconds and a third in the last round of the championship at Taupo this weekend, to give him a points-winning result of three over the experienced and multi-talented Earl Bamber (19) who finished second in the overall New Zealand Championship.

Although Bamber won all three races at this final round of the championship, Mitch had enough of a points lead over Bamber to resist the temptation of trying to beat him, especially with the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy at stake on the feature race.

“I was racing for the championship and the best way that I could do that was to ensure I finished close behind Earl in all three races, and not become involved in any ‘incidents’”, said Mitch, showing a racing maturity beyond his years.

Previously, Evans, son of Owen Evans and grandson of the late Laurie Evans – one of the legendary families of NZ Motorsport – had won the International section of the TRS Championship and finished second in the NZ Grand Prix at Manfeild.

“Mitch and I had agreed prior to the TRS Championship, that we would use this local series to give Mitch an opportunity to gain ‘wings and slicks’ experience for his future racing overseas, when he will be old enough to compete there” says his father, Owen.” We knew that we would be up against a local driver – Earl Bamber – who was highly rated and had huge experience and reputation racing similar cars, both in the BMW Asia series and A1GP, as well as whoever the series promoters were able to entice here, from racing in Europe.

he main overseas driver was Sten Pentus – a driver who had plenty of experience in racing these type of cars successfully, in Europe in Formula Renault and GP2 etc – and Sten would be driving for the same team as Mitch – the team run by former F1 mechanic, Stephen Giles.”
To even compete in this championship, Mitch had to get a dispensation from Motorsport NZ, because of his age. He had proved his ability and talent when he finished runner-up in the 2009 Australian Formula Ford Championship and then went on to win the Australian Super Prix Formula Three event.

In the early rounds of the TRS Championship, Mitch set pole position for the first four rounds, setting a new lap record at Timaru by nearly a second, and then taking the outright lap record at the new Hampton Downs circuit, and set a new lap record at Taupo.

Frustratingly, Evans had a mysterious problem that affected the performance of his car in the feature races of the early rounds of the championship, but he and his team persevered to fix that problem.

“The problem we had in the early rounds was certainly very frustrating, in that I had set the fastest times in qualifying , won the early warm-up race and then had this problem while I was leading the feature races,” says Mitch.” However, we still accumulated points for both championships – and that consistency has paid off in my winning both the International section of the championship and then the championship overall.

“For this campaign, I have to acknowledge the huge support I have had from my Dad, Owen, and his business, Evans European Panel and Paint, and especially our new sponsor for this championship, Wet & Forget. I am also very grateful for the continuing support that I have from the Giltrap Group, as well as Banklink. Even I am aware of the huge amount of money it costs to compete internationally, even in the early stages of a motorsport career, but that is where I want to pursue my ultimate objective of racing - Formula One.

“Apart from my major sponsors, I also have to acknowledge the help I received by being nominated for the Elite Motorsport Academy, run by Motorsport NZ and the Otago University. That really helped me with my mental/physical approach to top-line motorsport, which is now such an important part of being a top-performing motorsport competitor,” says Mitch.
Since Mitch’s achievements on the local scene, he has also been recognised internationally via an international website as the most promising young driver in the world during 2009, and has gone on to win the opening round of the Australian 2010 Formula Three Championship – pole position and three race wins – when again he had to obtain permission to compete (because of his age) and then compromised his qualifying etc when that permission was ‘tardy’ in coming through.

“To have obtained the results that I have, has been amazing and I have to acknowledge the professional ability of Stephen Giles here in NZ and the teams I have raced for in Australia. They have given me a car which has enabled me to achieve my results. The local TRS series is a very good series of modern motorsport, which enables young drivers – such as myself - to measure what we can do against overseas drivers, before spending huge amounts of money to compete in Europe.

“I can only say a huge thankyou to the people who have made this all possible – my Dad, my sponsors and my teams. Now I just have to get on with my homework for school (Saint Kentigern College) as with all my days off going motor racing, I have a lot to catch up on for something called NCEA, which is nowhere near as interesting as a few more motor-racing Cups in my bedroom,” says Mitchell Evans, New Zealand’s new Toyota Racing Series and Gold Star Champion, the prize for which includes the Chris Amon Trophy, $10,000 and a test drive with a European team.

Final championship points were: Evans 915, Bamber 912, Waite 762.

Giles Motorsport claimed the Team Championship with 1558 points from Triple X Motorsport 1518 and ETEC Motorsport with 1499.

Photo: SportProMedia