CALVIN MING opened the latest journey in his motor-racing career with a seventh place finish at the Ruapuna raceway in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Competing in that country’s Castrol Toyota Racing series, the Guyanese started from the back of the pack in race-one before moving his way up to seventh as he gets ready to compete in the second race last evening.
Ming gave Chronicle Sport a quick comment, saying, “We [the team] are looking forward to the positives at the moment where we have managed to bring down the times over the weekend.”
“I’m looking forward to the next race as I am continually learning. All in all, I count this as a learning curve and I am very grateful to my team, Victory Motor Racing for offering me this opportunity”
The first race was won by Richard Verschoor, ahead of Ferrari Driver Academy’s Robert Shwartzman and Marcus Armstrong, respectively.
Ming recently finished fifth overall in the American Cooper Tyres USF2000 series, notching up four podium appearances.
He also won the FIA NACAM Formula 4 Championship 2016/2017, with seven wins during that year and ten podium finishes.
Ming will use the same Tatus single seater as every other driver in the series. It is powered by a 1.8 litre Toyota engine, producing about 145 kWs, running on an 85 per cent ethanol bio-fuel.
All the cars will use the same Michelin tyres, gearboxes, suspensions and brakes to provide a level playing field, with driving skills being the deciding factor.
The five-round, 15 race Castrol Toyota Racing Series, which concludes with the New Zealand Grand Prix at Manfeild from February 9-11, has three races each weekend –on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings and afternoons.
The 2015 champion is current Williams Mercedes F1 driver, Lance Stroll, while the 2016 champion, Lando Norris, is currently the test driver for the Honda McLaren f1 team.
