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[CAMS] Pye wins Wigram Cup on TRS debut..
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pic: BAM Media
PYE WINS WIGRAM CUP ON TRS DEBUT IN NEW ZEALAND
CAMS Rising Star Scott Pye made a sensational debut in the Toyota Racing Series by winning the Wigram Cup at the Ruapuna circuit in Christchurch, New Zealand last weekend.
The South Australian took a flag-to-flag victory, starting from pole position and taking a dominating win at the 3.33-kilometre circuit against a field of experienced wings and slicks competitors from New Zealand and Australia.
Pye, 18, was fastest in qualifying held on Saturday before scoring a third place finish in the first of two preliminary races held, failing to finish the second.
But for the all important 24-lap Wigram Cup feature race Pye was unstoppable, driving for fellow Australian Trevor Sheumack’s European Technique race team in his first event in a ‘wings and slicks’ open-wheel race car.
Even a Safety Car mid-race could not prevent Pye, who hails from Mount Gambier in South Australia’s south east, from taking the significant win.
“I was running in clean air at the front and could keep an eye on the bunch behind me,” said Pye.
“When the Safety Car closed the field back up I just made sure I was in the right gear and was ready to go when the Safety Car pulled off the track and I just went for it.”
Pye took the chequered flag with a margin of almost three seconds over second-placed Mitch Cunningham of Auckland and set a new lap record in the process.
The Wigram Cup is the feature trophy at the opening round of the 2008/09 Toyota Racing Series, New Zealand’s premier single-seater category.
Toyota Racing Series cars are lightweight, purpose-built open-wheel racing cars constructed by Tatuus in Italy. Cars are all powered by inline four-cylinder 1.8-litre engines, boasting 215 horsepower running on 85 percent ethanol biofuel.
Toyota Racing Series alumni includes rising V8 Supercar star Shane Van Gisbergen, former Indy Lights and World Karting champion Wade Cunningham, current Red Bull Racing Formula One test driver Brendan Hartley and current GP2 Asia and New Zealand A1GP driver Earl Bamber.
This weekend Pye will complete his rookie season in the 2008 Ford Genuine Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship aboard his #19 CAMS Rising Star Spectrum at the Oran Park circuit in Sydney, New South Wales along with team-mates Daniel Erickson and Jake Chapman.
Pye currently sits seventh in the overall standings and is third in the Rookie of the Year points. Pye will also contest the 2009 national championship with the CAMS Rising Stars squad.
Erickson currently leads the rookie standings and sits an impressive fourth in the series standings, while Chapman lies in eighth place overall.
RESULTS: Wigram Cup at Ruapuna, NZ
Round 1 of the 2008/09 Toyota Racing Series
1. Scott Pye (Mt Gambier, SA) 24 laps
2. Mitch Cunningham (Auckland, NZL)
3. Sam MacNeill (Palmerston North, NZL)
4. Daniel Jilesen (Taurmarunui, NZL)
5. Nathan Antunes (Sydney, NSW)
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