Photo: Toyota Racing NZ
Giles Motorsport’s Martin Rump got off to a great start in his 2014 Toyota Racing Series campaign, as he topped both Thursday practice sessions ahead of the championship’s opening round at Teretonga.
In session one, Rump beat his teammate Jann Mardenborough by more than 0.6s and was more than a second clear of the rest of the field. With Mardenborough in second, another series returnee Andrew Tang took third, with Russian rookies Egor Orudzhev and Matevos Isaakyan rounding out the top five.
Formula Renault drivers Matteo Ferrer and Ryan Tveter took sixth and seventh, ahead of James Munro, Matt Rao and Damon Leitch.
There was, again, no matching Rump in the second session, with the Estonian narrowly improving on his earlier benchmark. Orudzhev took second ahead of Ferrer, Leitch and Macauley Jones.
Tang was sixth, sharing an identical time with single-seater debutant Pedro Piquet, as Martin Kodric, Michael Scott and Tveter made up the rest of the top ten.
Extensive testing will continue on Friday with three more timed sessions.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | P1 | P2 |
| 1 | Martin Rump | Giles Motorsport | 54.272 | 54.237 |
| 2 | Egor Orudzhev | M2 Competition | 55.361 | 54.623 |
| 3 | Matteo Ferrer | Giles Motorsport | 55.390 | 54.876 |
| 4 | Jann Mardenborough | Giles Motorsport | 54.920 | No Time |
| 5 | Damon Leitch | Victory Motor Racing | 55.668 | 54.921 |
| 6 | Macauley Jones | M2 Competition | 55.927 | 54.973 |
| 7 | Andrew Tang | Neale Motorsport | 55.339 | 55.019 |
| 8 | Pedro Piquet | M2 Competition | 56.342 | 55.019 |
| 9 | Gustavo Lima | M2 Competition | 56.283 | 56.071 |
| 10 | Martin Kodric | ETEC Motorsport | 55.704 | 55.086 |
| 11 | Michael Scott | Victory Motor Racing | 55.893 | 55.106 |
| 12 | Ryan Tveter | Giles Motorsport | 55.400 | 55.179 |
| 13 | Denis Korneev | ETEC Motorsport | 56.472 | 55.200 |
| 14 | James Munro | Neale Motorsport | 55.487 | 55.250 |
| 15 | Matevos Isaakyan | ETEC Motorsport | 55.389 | 55.588 |
| 16 | Jordan Oon | ETEC Motorsport | 56.355 | 55.483 |
| 17 | Matt Rao | Giles Motorsport | 55.508 | 55.747 |
| 18 | Steijn Schothorst | M2 Competition | 56.058 | 55.564 |
| 19 | Robin Hansson | Victory Motor Racing | 55.777 | 56.059 |
| 20 | Alif Hamdan | Giles Motorsport | 56.726 | 55.881 |
| 21 | Neil Alberico | Victory Motor Racing | 56.425 | 55.884 |
| 22 | Brandon Leitch | Victory Motor Racing | 56.136 | 55.901 |
| 23 | Levin Amweg | M2 Competition | 56.118 | 56.282 |
Personal best time in bold
Best time of session in italics