For expat Wanganui racer Matt Gibson and his Lightingplus racing team, the second season of the Toyota Finance TR86 Championship will be about rectifying the mistakes of the first.
The opening round of the 2014-15 series starts today at the Taupo Motorsport Park, serving as a support event to theNZV8 Super Tourers.
Gibson, 23, entered the inaugural seven-round series last spring with a lot of confidence, having finished in the top three of the Mazda Pro7 Plus Championship the previous season while also securing a couple of drives for the BNT Ford Falcon team in national V8 Ute series.
However, he ultimately finished fifth overall among the 18 car teams in the TR86 and admits it was a tough time as he struggled with the new Toyota.
"The car is so sensitive to change and set-up, the team struggled with set-up and my driving style didn't suit the car too well," Gibson said.
"I have been receiving some driver training on a simulator over the last few months to change my driving style to suit the TR86 and we also have a new technician on board the team to help with set-up.
"Learning to read data and make changes upon reading the data has been a big learning curve for me, which is a great attribute to have."
His Matt Gibson Motorsport team will consist of crew from Auckland and home town Wanganui. They headed to Taupo on Thursday night and started practice early yesterday morning. Gibson said they were preparing for a rainy weekend in Taupo, which starts with qualifying and then race one today, followed by the second and third races tomorrow.
The misty conditions on the track should not obscure the Lightingplus racer, as the team have given their car orange wheels.
Minor partners for the season are Firewatch Wanganui, Tom Ditchfield Panel Beating, Chemz Lubricants, Precision spray painting, Display Associates, Epik eyewear, Wanganui Toyota, Bottle Rocket Design and new supporter Paw Justice.
This summer's TR86 season will be six rounds and includes new venues of Ruapuna in Christchurch and Teretonga Park in Invercargill.
The teams will move to Pukekohe Park on November 29-30, then Ruapuna January 17-18, Teretonga a week later, Manfeild in Feilding on February 14-15, before finishing at Hampton Downs on March 21-22.
