MacNeill picks up Taupo drive

Another offer has come out of the blue for Manawatu driver Sam MacNeill to get behind the wheel of a blue Toyota Racing Series car at Taupo at the weekend.

He will replace Tauranga's Richie Stanaway in his ETEC Motorsport team for the last weekend of the national series.

The Christchurch team, owned by Trevor Sheumack, has a chance of taking the teams' title ahead of Giles Motorsport. But Stanaway has had to leave for Europe to start testing in Formula ADAC, the TRS equivalent but with Volkswagen engines.

MacNeill had also received a late call to drive in the previous round, for the Auckland Triple-X team, at Manfeild last month. But that didn't repeat for Taupo so MacNeill was resigned to doing personal testing for Toyota at Taupo. Until Monday.

"They looked around for who they could bring into the car and who could be on the pace relatively easily," MacNeill said.

He received help from his two major sponsors who had backed him at Manfeild.

"There's not ever such a thing as a free drive."

MacNeill is determined not to incur any more costs following his horrific crash at Hamilton last year. "I just don't crash; I don't do that any more," he said.

Since Manfeild, where he had a fourth and a third, he has got fitter and feels ready for the two practices tomorrow and then into the racing.

"After the grand prix I got back into the gym quite hard in the hope of getting a drive."

MacNeill was the 2007 Formula Ford champion and was runnerup in the 2009 TRS season.

He qualified on pole at Taupo last year but knows front-runners 15-year-old Mitch Evans (Giles), and 19-year-old Earl Bamber (Triple-X) should set the pace this time.

MacNeill will be driving his fifth TRS car, his fourth engine and for his fourth team.

"I'm all over the show," he laughed.

- © Fairfax NZ News