McLennan confirmed for 2023 TRS series

Australian Porsche Sprint Challenge driver Tom McLennan has been confirmed as a starter for 2023’s running of the New Zealand Toyota Racing Series.

The 17 year-old Queensland racer has this year contested the national Formula Ford championship, and Class B and Jnr categories in the Porsche series, taking out a Class B victory on debut in Ipswich.

McLennan will contest the renowned series with mtec Motorsport, where drivers will compete in what are effectively Formula 3 level machines.

The competition has long been a breeding ground for future single seater stars, with current F1 drivers such as Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll, Guanyu Zhou and Nicolas Latifi, all having contested it at point.

McLennan racing in a CHE Racing Mygale SJ11 at Winton during R3 of the national Formula Ford Championship

“It’s awesome to get the chance to race in the Castrol Toyota Racing Series. It’s a great international series against drivers from all around the world racing at New Zealand’s finest tracks,” McLennan said.

 “I’ve been over for a test in one of the FT-60s and the cars are amazing. I’m really looking forward to the season. I’m racing with mtec Motorsport and it’s a great team. They have been there many years, they have heaps of experience and have seen many great drivers come through and go onto bigger things in their careers.

“The circuits that we race on in NZ are some of the best and I just love open wheel racing – that’s what has really attracted me to it. I did Formula Ford for a couple of years which I loved, but we have chosen to race the FT-60 because they are safe cars and you can have some awesome battles while racing. 

“It’s one of the biggest open wheel series in the southern hemisphere. I really hope I can use the Toyota Racing Series to improve myself.”

The TGR NZ FT-60 that McLennan tested at Hampton Downs in October. Image: Tom McLennan Instagram

The series will start on January 13-15 at the Highlands Motorsport Park on the South Island, with five races plus the FIA sanctioned NZ Grand Prix, and will finish up on February 10-12 at the Taupo International Motorsport Park.

Bruin Beasley, mtec Motorsport team principal, says that he’s confident of McLennan putting in a competitive showing.

“Mtec is proud to have an Aussie as part of our campaign , Tom has shown that he has all the attributes needed to be competitive in TRS,” Beasley said.

“He’s very level headed and his natural pace will put him in the mix come next January.”

The NZ TRS series has had more than 20 drivers competing who have officially tested or raced in Formula One, and includes FIA Super Licence points as a result of its FIA recognition. 

The large global audience that it enjoys as a standalone open wheel competition in the early part of the year, means that it attracts the F1 teams and their junior programmes as talent scouts.

Conformation of more drivers is slowly coming in, with another Queenslander racer in Ryder Quinn also confirmed as taking part last month for the M2 Competition team. 

Other confirmed racers inlcude NZ’s own Callum Hedge, Brazillian F4 driver Lucas Fecury, and the Austin born F4 driver Ryan Shehan.

2023 Castrol Toyota Racing Series

 13-15 January 2023 – Highlands Motorsport Park

20-22 January 2023 – Teretonga Park Raceway

27-29 January 2023 – Manfeild – Circuit Chris Amon

3-5 February 2023 – Hampton Downs International Motorsport Park

10-12 February 2023 – Taupo International Motorsport Park

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