The first round of the 2019 Castrol Toyota Racing Series was a weekend of domination for Australian Formula 4 graduate Liam Lawson at Highlands Motorsport Park.

In his first appearance in the category, the New Zealander won from lights to flag in Saturdays first race ahead of Ferrari Academy driver Marcus Armstrong, and also claimed a new outright lap record at the circuit. 

"I’m stoked. Since I started racing I’ve wanted to race TRS and to finally be able to do that today is pretty cool,” Lawson said.

“From there it was just about getting into my grove and getting a gap on the field. I think we looked after our tyres pretty good.”

The weekend’s second race resulted in a fifth place finish for Lawson, before claiming a stunning win in the third and final 20 lap feature race.

Lawson was victorious by ten seconds, after performing some stunning overtaking moves in wet conditions. First passing Armstrong in the daunting final corner, before hunting down pole position holder Lucas Auer to take the win in drying conditions.

The two race wins are a strong start to Lawson’s TRS campaign, with Lawson leading the series standings by 82 points over Armstrong’s 72 points.

Calan Williams is the best placed Australian in ninth place outright with 35 points to his name. A seventh place finish in Race Two was the West Australian’s best race finish.

Fellow Australian Formula 4 graduate Thomas Smith currently sits 14^th in the outright standings with 19 points, and Jackson Walls will make his TRS debut this weekend at Teretonga – where he will be finally eligible to compete after turning 16 later this week.