Photo: Marcus Armstrong
Marcus Armstrong scored a commanding win in the final race at Ruapuna to take the Lady Wigram Trophy and hold the points lead after the opening round of the Toyota Racing Series.
For the third time out of three races this weekend, the driver starting second on the grid claimed the lead at the start, with Armstrong out-dragging his M2 Competition, Prema Formula 3 and Ferrari Driver Academy colleague Robert Shwartzman.
The safety car came out on the first lap after Reid Harker stalled at the start, and at the restart, race one winner Richard Verschoor got a run on Shwartzman and passed him down the inside for second.
The Dutchman was unable to challenge Armstrong however, and later slowed and pitted with a reported gearbox issue. He briefly rejoined the race but eventually retired.
That left Armstrong of nearby Christchurch to win by 2.48 seconds over Shwartzman and lead the Russian by 16 points in the standings.
James Pull completed a strong debut TRS weekend with a podium finish in third.
After a torrid first two races, series veteran Brendon Leitch twice got alongside Pull but ultimately had to settle for fourth.
Juan Manuel Correa was putting in his best performance of the weekend on the tail of Leitch before he went off and fell to eighth behind Charles Milesi, Clement Novalak and Cameron Das.