Alex Lynn recorded his first win of the season on Sunday in race three of the second round of 2013’s Toyota Racing Series at Timaru.
It was Lucas Auer who started the race from pole, but he was overtaken by Lynn into turn one and spent the remainder of the race immediately behind the Brit, crossing the finish line two and a half tenths behind him.
Puerto Rican Felix Serralles had trouble keeping up with the leading pair for most times and even got passed for third by Bruno Bonifacio at one point, but regained that position when the Brazilian went off into the safety barrier on lap 14. It wasn’t enough to prevent Auer regaining the points lead, however.
The top five was completed by Steijn Schothorst and Damon Leitch, while Nicholas Latifi recorded a personal best finish of sixth. Nick Cassidy, the defending champion, was only seventh, but managed to set the new lap record for the track at 57.847 seconds, beating the time set by another series champion Mitch Evans in 2010.
Pipo Derani, Jann Mardenborough and Akash Nandy completed the top ten with Tatiana Calderon a further second off in eleventh.
Dennis Olsen, having originally finished 14th, inherited 12th due to time penalties for false starts which put Tanart Sathienthirakul and Andrew Tang right behind him. Spike Goddard completed the top 15, ahead of Michael Scott and Ryan Cullen.
After the Timaru round, Auer leads Serralles by a mere six points, with the man in third, Cassidy, a further 47 behind. The next round will take place at Taupo on 25-27 January.
Race 3 results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time/Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Alex Lynn | M2 Competition | 19m32.674s | 20 |
| 2 | Lucas Auer | Giles Motorsport | +0.264s | 20 |
| 3 | Felix Serralles | Giles Motorsport | +3.352s | 20 |
| 4 | Steijn Schothorst | M2 Competition | +4.390s | 20 |
| 5 | Damon Leitch | Victory Motor Racing | +4.716s | 20 |
| 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Giles Motorsport | +6.016s | 20 |
| 7 | Nick Cassidy | M2 Competition | +7.161s | 20 |
| 8 | Pipo Derani | Giles Motorsport | +10.688s | 20 |
| 9 | Jann Mardenborough | ETEC Motorsport | +11.783s | 20 |
| 10 | Akash Nandy | ETEC Motorsport | +15.204s | 20 |
| 11 | Tatiana Calderon | ETEC Motorsport | +16.011s | 20 |
| 12 | Dennis Olsen | M2 Competition | +25.210s | 20 |
| 13 | Tanart Satienthirakul | ETEC Motorsport | +26.458s* | 20 |
| 14 | Andrew Tang | ETEC Motorsport | +26.973s* | 20 |
| 15 | Spike Goddard | M2 Competition | +29.629s | 20 |
| 16 | Michael Scott | Victory Motor Racing | +30.415s | 20 |
| 17 | Ryan Cullen | M2 Competition | +31.084s | 20 |
| DNF | Bruno Bonifacio | Giles Motorsport | +6 laps | 14 |
* indicates a post-race time penalty
Championship Standings
| Pos | Driver | Team | Pts |
| 1 | Lucas Auer | Giles Motorsport | 382 |
| 2 | Felix Serralles | Giles Motorsport | 376 |
| 3 | Nick Cassidy | M2 Competition | 329 |
| 4 | Pipo Derani | Giles Motorsport | 289 |
| 5 | Alex Lynn | M2 Competition | 282 |
| 6 | Damon Leitch | Victory Motor Racing | 282 |
| 7 | Steijn Schothorst | M2 Competition | 270 |
| 8 | Bruno Bonifacio | Giles Motorsport | 259 |
| 9 | Nicholas Latifi | Giles Motorsport | 228 |
| 10 | Jann Mardenborough | ETEC Motorsport | 213 |
| 11 | Tanart Satienthirakul | ETEC Motorsport | 181 |
| 12 | Tatiana Calderon | ETEC Motorsport | 166 |
| 13 | Akash Nandy | ETEC Motorsport | 163 |
| 14 | Dennis Olsen | M2 Competition | 146 |
| 15 | Michael Scott | Victory Motor Racing | 128 |
| 16 | Andrew Tang | ETEC Motorsport | 124 |
| 17 | Ryan Cullen | M2 Competition | 122 |
| 18 | Spike Goddard | M2 Competition | 98 |