Fecury confirmed as first starter for returning Castrol TRS championship
Rising Brazilian star Lucas Fecury has been confirmed as the first driver for the 2023 Castrol Toyota Racing Series.
The 18-year-old will compete for Kiwi Motorsport in the first full Castrol TRS championship since 2020. It will be his second circuit racing championship having raced this year for Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport in the highly competitive US Formula 4 Championship.
Lucas hails from São Luís, Maranhão, in the north region of Brazil, one part of the country without a big tradition in motorsport. Former Indycar driver, Matheus Leist, is currently working with him as a driver coach and Angelo Albertini is managing his promising career.
As a former Brazilian Kart Champion in 2020 and runner up in the popular ROK Cup USA Florida Winter Tour in 2021, Fecury is no stranger to winning and is aiming for a strong showing in his New Zealand campaign.
“I am very excited to make my debut in TRS NZ,” he said. “It is a great opportunity to develop even more my skill for next year. I would like to thank TRS and of course Garry Orton and Teena Larsen for welcoming me to the team. I’ve been learning a lot with him in the United States. I can’t wait for the season to start.”
Kiwi Motorsport Team Principals Orton and Teena Larsen were delighted to secure his Brazilian racer for the forthcoming New Zealand campaign, adding: “We are certainly looking forward to seeing Lucas race in NZ. This past season in the States he has made a lot of progress. TRS is very competitive, and Lucas will gain plenty of experience that will help prepare him well for the 2023 American season.”
Castrol TRS returns in January with its regular five round series which will include the 67th running of the New Zealand Grand Prix. The championship ran a much-reduced Kiwi-only series in 2021 but due to international travel restrictions, was absent from the international motorsport calendar in 2022. With New Zealand's borders now open and no arrival restrictions, interest in the 2023 championship is extremely high.
"We are dealing with a huge amount of high-quality enquiries for 2023 and I think everyone is looking forward to a big return," explained Motorsport Manager, Nicolas Caillol.
"It's a great start to have Lucas on board as our first confirmed driver and we will be making regular driver announcements over the coming weeks. We're back with a five-round calendar, five great tracks and the NZ Grand Prix. In addition to that of course, we are once again offering the high testing mileage that the drivers enjoy making the championship one of the best value for money junior categories, as well as one of the most competitive around."
TRS keeps track of its graduates and it recently passed the 20 mark for drivers who have gone on to test or race in Formula One. Current F1 aces Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda, Nicolas Latifi, Lance Stroll and Guanyu Zhou have all raced in TRS. Norris and Stroll were both champions.
The 2023 championship will get underway in New Zealand's South Island at Highlands Motorsport Park on January 13-15 before heading to nearby Teretonga Park for Round 2 a week later. It then heads to the North Island for consecutive weekends at Circuit Chris Amon - Manfeild, Hampton Downs International Motorsport Park and a final weekend at Taupo International Motorsport Park on February 10-12.
Details regarding the 67th New Zealand Grand Prix - which remains the centrepiece of the championship and one of only two non-F1 Grand Prix events recognised by the FIA - are also set to be released soon.
