Pedro Piquet is hoping to get on a roll in the opening round of the Toyota Racing Series at Ruapuna next weekend – though not in the style that highlighted the teenage Brazilian’s driving in 2015.The son of three-time Formula 1 world champion Nelson Piquet had an eventful year, where his dominant performances in Brazil’s Formula 3 series were overshadowed by a spectacular crash during the Porsche GT3 Cup in September.
Piquet, 17, was lucky to avoid serious injury when his vehicle was clipped on a bend of the Goiania circuit in Brazil and then flipped nine times before finally coming to rest.
Potential Brazilian Formula 1 driver Pedro Piquet is back for a second crack at the Toyota Racing Series
Potential Brazilian Formula 1 driver Pedro Piquet is back for a second crack at the Toyota Racing Series
Undeterred by what he described as a “small scare”, the talented South American, who first competed in the TRS in 2014, is among the favourites to succeed Canadian Lance Stroll as winner of the five-round series.
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A confident Piquet arrives in New Zealand having won 14 of his 16 races in Brazil last year, though he faces stiff competition from a line-up of up-and-coming Europeans and local hope James Munro.
Piquet’s main opposition for the series that climaxes at the New Zealand Grand Prix at Manfeild next month is likely to come from 16-year-old former world kart champion Lando Norris (England), China’s Ferrari academy member Guanyu Zhou, Indian Jehan Daruvula and Russia’s Artem Markelov, who was eighth in 2015.
Christchurch’s Munro was a place behind Markelov as the best performed New Zealander.
Markelov, 21, is the most experienced driver in the series and last year drove alongside New Zealand’s Mitch Evans in the GP2 championship for the Russian Time team.
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Markelov is one of only two drivers to have previously raced on New Zealand circuits – Archduke Ferdinand Habsburg, an 18-year-old member of the Austrian royal family – was 11th overall last year.
Munro, who recorded his solitary TRS podium last year at Teretonga, is contesting for the third time after a relatively light schedule in 2015. The 18-year-old’s high point was winning his class at Malaysia’s Sepang 12-hour endurance race last month in a Lamborghini.
The TRS is held over five consecutive weekends, opening with practice sessions and qualifying on Friday followed by one race on Saturday and two on Sunday