Finalists soon to be revealed
Applications for the inaugural Castrol Ambassador for February’s 67th New Zealand Grand Prix have now closed and the response has been nothing short of phenomenal!
A place on the Hampton Downs grid in the 2022 New Zealand Grand Prix in a Castrol-backed Toyota FT-60 is up for grabs for one supremely talented Kiwi racer. It’ll be all to play for over the big weekend.
We received a whopping 66 applications for the opportunity and that means a busy weekend for the judging panel from Castrol as they decide the finalists. Above all, it's heartening to see so many high quality submissions from up and coming drivers and it has shown us once again just how deep the talent pool of young drivers is in New Zealand.
The Grand Prix takes place on the afternoon of Sunday 13th plus there will be a sprint race for the Dorothy Smith Memorial Cup in the morning. The build up to the big races, however, starts the previous Thursday.
Five testing and free practice sessions run through from Thursday to Saturday morning. Qualifying will take place on Saturday afternoon and will follow a similar format to the Formula One events with a three-phase qualifying session. Qualifying for the sprint race (Q1) will take place before the first Grand Prix qualifying session (Q2). The third and final qualifying session, Q3, will be limited to the top eight runners from Q2 and will be for the Castrol GP Pole Position Shootout.
Prize money is on offer for the NZGP race too, with $5,000 to the winner, $3,000 for second place and $2,000 for third. There’s also $1,000 for the sprint race winner and $500 and $250 for the second and third place finishers respectively. The Castrol Pole Position Shootout winner will also go home with a cheque for $500 in their back pocket.
Stay tuned and keep your eye out for Monday's update when we'll confirm the final few in the running for a place on the grid!
