Conroy Takes Debut Win

Invercargill racing driver Jamie Conroy has won his first race in the 2015 Toyota Racing Series. Conroy used pole position to lead from start to finish in Sunday morning’s race at Teretonga Park holding off seasoned GP2 competitor Artem Markelov of Russia over the entire race distance. Markelov pressured Conroy over the early laps before Conroy pulled out a small buffer, taking the chequered flag .891 of a second clear of Markelov.

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It was an outstanding drive by Conroy in just his second weekend of TRS competition after he dominated last year’s New Zealand Formula Ford Championship.

Earlier in the weekend Conroy qualified thirteenth for the first race on Saturday afternoon and ran a good race in the Mobil 1 car to finish sixth after penalties were applied to several other drivers.

That finish gained him pole position for Sunday morning’s race and he held the lead off the line only for the race to be stopped after a car hit the tyre wall exiting the loop.

From the restart Conroy carried on making good use of the clear air ahead of him to take a popular and well deserved victory.

In the feature event, the Spirit Of A Nation Cup race on Sunday afternoon, Conroy started thirteenth and finished eleventh. He is now sixth in the championship which features what is considered to be the best international field ever assembled for the series. .

This was a superb performance but Conroy was very modest after the round. “We had a bit of luck with the reverse grid but you have to make the most of those opportunities. Markelov was there the whole race. He was really pushing. It is amazing. This is my fifth race in the wings and slicks category and in front of a home crowd.” Conroy definitely rated it as his career highlight. “The level in this series is so much higher than anything else I have done before. I’m pretty spoilt. There are some very fast drivers in this series who may not even win a race.”

Conroy is driving with the M2 Competition Team in the series and the next stop for Jamie and the Mobil 1 #23 car is at Hampton Downs in North Waikato next weekend.

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