Decision time for the summer international motor racing series is close. Simply running the NZGP is an option.

TOYOTA New Zealand is continuing to work on the viability of running the 2021 Toyota Racing Series in a national environment in which Covid-19 border restrictions will still be in place, but agrees time for big decisions is passing fast.

``We are working through what the border controls will potentially look like for international drivers,’’ said Toyota New Zealand CEO Neeraj Lala yesterday.

``We’ve had a lot of interest from international drivers wanting to come to New Zealand to race. Border control is the obvious challenge we have to work through. It’s a big hurdle.

``There have been some positive signs we’ve seen with rugby, netball and cricket and we’re hoping we can follow a similar path to those. We are working closely with government officials to see what that position might be.

``We absolutely haven’t given up. We tried making the decision before the end of October but we’ll give ourselves every opportunity and delay it as long as we can.

``I don’t believe we can go past November.’’

Lala isn’t ruling out changes to the calendar or a more compact schedule.

``We are looking at what at series under Covid would look like, whether it be a North Island series only.

``But there are other things to consider. To meet our qualification for Super License points there are criteria around the number of tracks you have to race at. That’s a key requirement.

``We are considering a condensed time frame. We are exploring all options and we certainly don’t want to give up on it.’’

In spite of travel restrictions there are signs the Toyota Racing Series has become an even more attractive option for emerging young racing drivers from around the world.

``We have had overwhelming interest this year, more than any other year, for internationals to come to New Zealand and race,’’ Lala said.

Andrew Davis, Toyota’s general manager of marketing and motorsport provided more details on the TRS plans.

``There are lots of options on the table. We have submitted a set of expressions of interest to MBIE [Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment] and Immigration and we have their support along with Sport New Zealand around being able to review that,’’ Davis said.

``We are encouraging them to review our application as quickly as they can, particularly as other sports are beginning to happen. We need to see how that goes. We haven’t given up.’’

Davis revealed one alternative plan if a full series isn’t viable might be to hold a one-off New Zealand Grand Prix meeting.

``We’ve had positive feedback around running some type of New Zealand Grand Prix. Even if we don’t run a full championship, we are looking at options we can have around a Grand Prix, potentially offering something for the champions that have been racing overseas.’’

He said the Grand Prix idea was one of several alternate plans.

``We’ve got three or four options on the table. We did have the 31st of October as our date to update stakeholders. We’ve pushed that out by a week just to see what happens with Immigration.

``We should have something out early next week and keep people updated as time goes on.

``The cars will be ready to go. We have the people in place and it will all be ready for a full season.’’

At this stage the 2021 Toyota Racing Series is scheduled to start on the January 22-24 weekend. Venues for the originally announced calendar – over five consecutive weekends – hadn’t been confirmed.

The Speedworks NZ Championship calendar currently lists race meetings at Hampton Downs on January 22-24, Taupo’s Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park Feb 5-7, Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon Feb 12-14 and the NZ Grand Prix at the circuit to be confirmed on Feb 19-21.