Photo: Bruce Jenkins / TGR NZ

Zack Scoular will switch to sportscar racing after reaching a new high in his single-seater career, winning the New Zealand Grand Prix.

Last year the 18-year-old Kiwi was Formula Regional Oceania runner-up with MTEC Motorsport, then went points-free in Eurocup-3 and its winter series with Palou Motorsport.

He began 2026 by returning to home soil and MTEC’s line-up in FRegional Oceania, and while he was only seventh in the standings he did win three races including his landmark season-ending triumph.

“I can’t believe it. Oh my days,” was his reaction following victory after getting out of the cockpit. “We’ve had such a tough year. The pace we’ve showed all year was really good, just so many unlucky moments, but to top it off like that – probably the last race I’ll have in single-seaters for the time, for the future. I can’t thank the team at MTEC enough, my family, everyone else involved. It means so much.”

On the grand prix’s safety car finish, he added: “I didn’t really have that much words. Towards the end of the race we started pulling out a bit of a gap, starting getting my head down a bit after managing the tyre. But then as soon as I saw that safety car, I sort of knew, and I was like ‘we just have to get it around for one more lap’.”

For a second successive season, Scoular was backed by the Tony Quinn Foundation. He won its shootout in 2024, and “to be able to still carry the TQF on my racesuit means so much”.

Scoular’s comment on his career future relates to him swapping junior single-seaters for junior sportscars. He will join R-ace GP (best known for its junior single-seater exploits) in the Le Mans Cup later this year to drive an LMP3 prototype.

In the Asian and European Le Mans Series the team is runnning Hugo Schwarze, with fellow GB3 race-winner Lucas Fluxa, Eurocup-3 drivers Luciano Morano and Lenny Ried, and FIA Formula 3 podium-finisher Callum Voisin also on the ALMS grid in LMP3 cars.

USF2000 midfielder Lucas Fecury and Formula 4 graduate Alexander Jacoby will be in the Le Mans Cup’s LMP3 entry list.

Scoular won the New Zealand GP by passing Hitech GP’s Jin Nakamura through the race’s first corner then managing his pace at the front. Nakamura was visibly upset when speaking to media post-race, despite it being his fifth runner-up finish of the season and his birthday.

“I’m a bit disappointed for this [result]. I had a bad start again. Yep, that’s it,” he said. “I’m happy to be here [fourth in the points table].”

After claiming his and Hitech’s first FRegional Oceania win earlier in the day, Kanato Le finished third. He praised the two drivers ahead was “really happy”, calling it “a massive honour and a really nice end” to the season by finishing on the podium.

The post Zack Scoular set for sportscar switch after New Zealand GP win appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: TGR NZ / Joel Hanks

MTEC Motorsport’s Zack Scoular won Formula Regional Oceania’s season-ending New Zealand Grand Prix, as M2 Competition’s Ugo Ugochukwu clinched the title.

Hitech GP’s Jin Nakamura started the prestigious and lengthy 27-lap race on pole, and joined on the front row by Scoular rather than Ryan Wood.

The MTEC driver had qualified second, but was excluded from the results of qualifying due to a technical breach regarding his rideheight. His team appealed the decision for Q1 and Q2 successfully, but not for Q3, putting him seventh on the grid.

Ugochukwu had a suspension failure at the start of Q1, and M2’s repair job to get him back on track did not include the front wishbone covers. He qualified third, but was excluded from Q2 and Q3 so lined up 13th.

Scoular’s luck went even further at the start of the grand prix, as Nakamura bogged down in the second stage of the launch. Having nosed ahead through turn one, Scoular asserted himself as leader into the bus stop chicane and pulled away.

Ugochukwu made up one place, and on lap two Wood barged past HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed’s Liam Sceats for sixth into the turn 14 hairpin decide Sceats trying to defend the inside. On lap three, Ugochukwu nailed an overtake on Kiwi Motorsport’s Yevan David into the bus stop chicane from the outside line on entry, and gained another spot as Giles Motorsport’s Nolan Allaer had an off.

At the back of the field, HMD’s Trevor LaTourrette suffered a delaminated rear-left tyre and had to pit on lap five.

The gap between the top two hovered between 0.56 and 0.82 seconds, as Ugochukwu continued his rise. After several attempts at passing team-mate Sebastian Manson on lap nine, he appeared to be let past at turn 10 next time by, which made it harder for their other team-mate Freddie Slater to overturn Ugochukwu’s points lead as he occupied fourth place.

Racing was neutralised on lap 11 after Jack Taylor (Giles) crashed out, and red flags waved on lap 13 to ensure more green flag running occurred.

The race restarted on lap 14 behind the safety car, and David pitted from 11th at the end of that lap as green flags waved. Wood, who set the fastest lap shortly before the stoppage, passed MTEC’s Louis Sharp for fifth while Scoular built a 0.7s gap again. It ebbed and flowed again as the leader saved his tyres, then on lap 20 he took the fastest lap and broke 1.2s clear.

Nakamura responded by being faster next time around, but Scoular in turn responded and began lap 23 with a 1.585s lead.

That distance was maintained until the safety car returned on the penultimate lap. Kiwi’s Cooper Shipman crashed at turn two, but only local yellow flags were required, then LaTourrette hit the wall hard through turn six and left debris.

It settled the fight for victory and the title, and also halted the fight for seventh. Sceats began holding off team-mate James Wharton lap 17, at the hairpin and after the bridge, and next time by Wharton lunged into the turn 14 hairpin. Sceats locked up and stayed ahead. Wharton tried the outside there on lap 20, and was on Sceat’s gearbox through the next two laps as another failed overtaking attempt was made.

Race results (27 laps)

The post Scoular wins New Zealand GP, Ugochukwu takes FRegional Oceania title appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: TGR NZ

Ugo Ugochukwu kept the Formula Regional Oceania points lead in round two at Taupo as Ryan Wood won the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy.

Wood and James Wharton had won the first two races two weekends ago, and drivers’ combined fastest laps from those two encounters set the grid for race three on Sunday.

That put MTEC Motorsport’s Zack Scoular on pole, ahead of Freddie Slater (M2 Competition), Wood (MTEC), Wharton (HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed), points leader Ugo Ugochukwu (M2), Fionn McLaughlin (Hitech GP) and Louis Sharp (MTEC).

Scoular initially moved to the outside then swept back to the inside on the run to the race’s opening corner, and while he was under attack then he had a gap by turn four as Wood fought with Slater. Further back, McLaughlin lost out in a battle with fellow Red Bull junior Ernesto Rivera that sent him down to 12th place.

There was a 2.42s gap between the top two by lap three, which Slater gradually reduced to 1.7s before Scoular pulled away again to be 8.4s clear by the finish. Wood kept with Slater but was never close enough to attack him after lap one, and Ugochukwu got into fourth before trouble at turn 11 on lap five cast him to 16th and he had to work his way back up to 11th.

Sharp inherited fourth, having overtaken Wharton on lap three, and kept the position for the rest of the 18-lap race.

The battle for sixth was full of drama. Kanato Le overtook Hitech team-mate Jin Nakamura down the back straight using push-to-pass on lap three, then got by Rivera on lap four after he had a big lock-up at the turn 11 hairpin. However Rivera got back past before the chicane, and they had contact at turn one on lap five. Le was sent off briefly on the outside, and he lost several places including falling behind McLaughlin at turn nine.

Kiwi Motorsport’s Yevan David was next to attack Rivera, but he had his own major lock-up into the chicane on lap six to avoid contact with him. That left him then defending against M2’s Sebastian Manson, until he got tipped into a spin by McLaughlin when they reached turn one.

McLaughlin passed Cui into the chicane on lap eight then joined David in the train of cars behind Rivera. David had another off at the chicane on lap 12, leaving McLaughlin, Le and Cui as Rivera’s chasers. Rivera was overtaken down the back straight on lap 14 by McLaughlin, and Le was nosing into the rear of his car on the next lap but Rivera stayed ahead after locking up into the chicane.

Next time by Le and Cui cleared him in one move, and the second group of cars had closed back in. David snuck down Rivera’s inside into turn one on lap 17, then gained another spot as Cui picked up damage that sent him into retirement.

After McLaughlin and Rivera were handed time penalties post-race, it led to Nolan Allaer (Giles Motorsport) and Cooper Shipman (Kiwi) completing the top 10.

There was a second qualifying session that set the grid for the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy-awarding race four, and on a soaked track Giles’ Jack Taylor claimed a surprise pole position.

Red flags were triggered by Trevor LaTourrette (HMD) spinning off, and Sharp was fastest at that point. He led Wood by 0.048 seconds at the session’s halfway point, with Taylor 0.82s off in third. Wood went fastest by 0.201s with six-and-a-half minutes to go, and Wharton shuffled Taylor down to fourth.

Sharp and Wood swapped top spot twice with five minutes remaining, and Slater moved into third as Taylor dropped to 10th. Next to lead the way was David, and Sharp reclaimed provisional pole by 0.008s in the final two minutes. Track evolution meant laptimes continued to drop, and 20s later Taylor leapt from 11th to first with a 1m32.687s.

Ugochukwu bettered that by 0.16s, then Wood went quickest by 1.139s over Sharp with 20s left on the clock. Taylor and Ugochukwu were down to sixth and 10th respectively as David jumped to second when the chequered flag waved, but with a rapid final effort Taylor stole pole from Wood by 0.274s.

Le and Sharp completed a top five that all lapped sub-1m32s, with Ugochukwu, McLaughlin and Scoular outside of the top 10.

The track was dry at the end of the day, and Australian Supercars star Wood passed Taylor off the line then rarely had to look in his mirrors as he drove to victory.

Le got around the outside of Taylor into the opening corner but the poleman did not concede second place until turn three, and Sharp got past on the inside into the hairpin despite locking up.

Slater got into fifth past the battling David and Wharton, and once Wharton went off at the hairpin on lap three he had less to worry about until two of his own offs there meant he joined Wharton near the back of the pack.

Ugochukwu had already passed Slater for fifth before his first off, and Nakamura (who started 10th) went past David for sixth on lap 10 of 23. Their progress was halted on lap 13 as the safety car was summoned. Rivera and Scoular had clashed the chicane, sending Scoular a safe distance off track but leaving him stranded due to damage.

Racing resumed on lap 17, and Wood pulled away from Le and Sharp. Ugochukwu attacked Taylor on lap 18, nosing ahead exiting turn two before they went side-by-side again through to turn seven where Nakamura snatched fifth. However his own mistake when trying to pass Taylor at the end of lap 19 meant Ugochukwu got back past him, and the points leader finally cleared Taylor down the back straight on lap 21.

Nakamura had a second attempt a lap later without luck, but gained the position anyway as Taylor and David were penalised five seconds for weaving behind the safety car. It dropped Taylor to 11th, and meant World Rally champion Kalle Rovanpera (Hitech) claimed the best result of his single-seater career in ninth.

Wharton and Slater finished 16th and 17th, hurting their title ambitions as Ugochukwu concluded the event with a 33-point lead over Le.

Results round-up
Race 3 (18 laps)
1 Zack Scoular MTEC Motorsport 25m10.289s
2 Freddie Slater M2 Competition +8.454s
3 Ryan Wood MTEC Motorsport +9.602s
4 Louis Sharp MTEC Motorsport +12.654s
5 James Wharton HMD w/ TJ Speed +13.931s
6 Jin Nakamura Hitech GP +26.203s
7 Kanato Le Hitech GP +32.035s
8 Yevan David Kiwi Motorsport +35.642s
9 Nolan Allaer Giles Motorsport +36.695s
10 Cooper Shipman Kiwi Motorsport +37.487s
Fastest lap: Scoular, 1m23.261s

Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy (23 laps)
1 Wood 35m55.008s
2 Le +1.595s
3 Sharp +1.996s
4 Ugo Ugochukwu M2 Competition +7.908s
5 Nakamura +9.063s
6 Yuanpu Cui MTEC Motorsport +11.504s
7 Ernesto Rivera M2 Competition +11.636s
8 Allaer +13.337s
9 Kalle Rovanpera Hitech GP +13.641s
10 Sebastian Manson M2 Copmetition +14.069s
Pole: Jack Taylor, 1m31.340s
FL: Wood, 1m23.258s

Championship standings
1 Ugochukwu 194   2 Le 161   3 Sharp 159   4 Nakamura 153   5 Wood 150   6 Slater 144   7 Scoular 120   8 Rivera 118   9 Wharton 113   10 Allaer 86

The post Ryan Wood wins FRegional Oceania’s Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Bruce Jenkins/TGR NZ

Ryan Wood scored his first single-seater win in the opening Formula Regional Oceania race of the weekend at Taupo before James Wharton triumphed in race two.

Wood and Wharton were the pacesetters across Friday’s three practice sessions, with Wood topping two of them and Wharton – who was never outside of the top three – edging him by 0.094 seconds to lead the other.

Supercars regular Wood managed to carry his form into Saturday morning’s qualifying session to take pole position by just 0.013s over championship leader Ugo Ugochukwu.

When the lights went out at the start of the first race, Ugochukwu got the better launch to nose ahead on the run to Turn 1, but Wood was able to hold the lead on the inside line.

After soaking up the early pressure from Ugochukwu in the opening laps, Wood set the fastest lap to start pulling away, and eventually took victory by 2.5s.

As he dropped back from Wood, Ugochukwu fell into the clutches of Zack Scoular, but was given the chance to escape when Scoular locked up into Turn 11 and run wide on lap eight. The mistake allowed Freddie Slater to get a run down the long back straight and get past, with Scoular locking up again into the chicane in his attempt to hold on.

Scoular would continue locking his brakes under pressure from Louis Sharp, who eventually found a way past for fourth place on the penultimate lap.

Wharton finished sixth and thus lined up third on the reversed grid for race two behind Kanato Le and Ernesto Rivera.

Le managed to hold off Rivera in the first corner of the race before Wharton then got a run around the outside of Rivera in Turn 2 to take second.

After sustained pressure forced Le into mistakes in Turn 11, Wharton took the lead using the push-to-pass down the back straight on lap seven. He would go on to win by 3.5s over Rivera, who had passed Le a few laps later.

Ugochukwu also got by Le to boost his championship lead with another podium finish in third while Le tumbled down the order, crossing the line eighth. Sharp won an entertaining battle with Wood and Slater for fourth.

Slater received a five-second time penalty for forcing Scoular off track at the start of the race. Scoular went on to pit and claim the fastest lap of the race, giving him pole for race three.

Results round-up
Race 1 (18 laps)
1 Ryan Wood MTEC Motorsport 25m25.001s
2 Ugo Ugochukwu M2 Competition +2.529s
3 Freddie Slater M2 Competition +5.638s
4 Louis Sharp MTEC Motorsport +8.758s
5 Zack Scoular MTEC Motorsport +9.596s
6 James Wharton HMD w/ TJ Speed +10.594s
7 Ernesto Rivera M2 Competition +13.107s
8 Kanato Le Hitech GP +16.176s
9 Jin Nakamura Hitech GP +29.235s
10 Yuanpu Cui MTEC Motorsport +29.522s
Pole: Wood, 1m23.258s
Fastest lap: Wood, 1m23.735s

Race 2 (18 laps)
1 Wharton 25m31.190s
2 Rivera +3.587s
3 Ugochukwu +3.719s
4 Sharp +7.150s
5 Wood +7.578s
6 Cui +11.408s
7 Le +12.707s
8 Slater +13.938s
9 Cadi Baptista HMD w/ TJ Speed +18.880s
10 Kalle Rovanpera Hitech GP +19.031s
FL: Scoular, 1m23.095s

Championship standings
1 Ugochukwu 160   2 Le 112   3 Nakamura 111   4 Slater 109   5 Sharp 108   6 Rivera 93   7 Wood 88   8 Wharton 86   9 Scoular 85   10 Cui 62

The post Wood and Wharton win Taupo’s first FRegional Oceania races appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Bruce Jenkins / TGR NZ

MTEC Motorsport’s Zack Scoular won the second Formula Regional Oceania race, and first reversed-grid contest of 2026, at Hampton Downs.

He overtook Kiwi Motorsport’s Yevan David off the line, as Hitech GP’s Jin Nakamura took third from M2 Competition’s Freddie Slater before the latter reclaimed the place around the outside of turn one.

The pair continued squabbling until the safety car was summoned. HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed’s James Wharton had been spun by M2’s Sebastian Manson (who got a drive-through penalty) and looked to be beached, but got going again.

Racing however did not resume until lap four, and Nakamura was already alongside David at that point. In response, David went deep into turn one and then defended exiting the corner to stay ahead, then Slater and Nakamura went wheel-to-wheel again for several corners.

They banged wheels, Nakamura held third, and in the queue forming behind them Hitech’s Kanato Le lost his front wing.

Scoular broke clear by two seconds, and maintained that gap for the rest of the race until he weaved to the finish line.

Nakamura went down David’s inside at turn two on lap seven, and second place was settled as David locked up and then had to defend. Slater made contact with him as he tried passing, but soon he and MTEC’s Ryan Wood got ahead.

Wood’s first attempt at overtaking Slater was around the outside of turn one on lap 10 of 18, and four laps later a turn two dive also failed. Slater locked up at turn eight though, and David was all over him. On lap 16, Wood went wide exiting turn one and Slater had a little bit of breathing room thereon.

“That was the longest race ever,” said Slater afterwards. “Too much pressure from behind, didn’t really have any pace to answer. So we definitely need to do some digging overnight to find some more laptime.”

David was down to ninth by the finish, ahead of the constantly squabbling Red Bull-backed duo of Fionn McLaughlin and single-seater debutant Kalle Rovanpera.

However post-race there were a fleet of penalties for idential offences, with Louis Sharp (MTEC), Nolan Allaer (Giles Motorsport), Jack Taylor (Giles) being demoted from sixth, seventh and eighth to 13th, ninth and 10th.

Several drivers further back pitted, seeking fresher rubber and clean air to go for the fastest lap which will impact race four’s grid. It was claimed by M2’s Ernesto Rivera.

Race results (18 laps)

The post Scoular wins action-packed reversed-grid FRegional Oceania race appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: John Cowpland / TGR NZ

Louis Sharp got the jump on Ugo Ugochukwu at the start to win the opening race of the Formula Regional Oceania season at Hampton Downs.

A better launch from second on the grid allowed Sharp to instantly nose ahead of polesitter Ugochukwu and claim the lead into the first corner.

Behind, Hitech’s Japanese duo Kenato Le and Jin Nakamura climbed from fourth and sixth on the grid to run third and fourth. Freddie Slater lost third to Le in the first corner, and within a lap he had slipped down to seventh, with Nakamura, Ryan Wood and Zack Scoular all finding a way by.

Racing in his native New Zealand for the first time in four years, Sharp led comfortably enough in the early stages. Ugochukwu used the championship’s new push-to-pass system to close back up in the middle of the race, only for Sharp to respond.

The gap briefly went out to over one second late on, only for Ugochukwu to set the fastest lap on the final tour – which could give him pole for Sunday’s race three – and finish 0.448 seconds behind.

In his first ever single-seater race, Supercars driver Wood got back past Nakamura for fourth heading down the main straight onto lap 11 of 18. Wood went on to catch Le before the end, but couldn’t find a way past for a podium.

Slater managed to repass Scoular to finish sixth, with Yevan David, Ernesto Rivera and James Wharton rounding out the top 10.

Race results (18 laps)

The post Sharp shoots past Ugochuckwu to win FRegional Oceania opener appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Joel Hanks

Ugo Ugochukwu kicked off 2026’s junior single-seater action by going fastest in Formula Regional Oceania’s season-opening qualifying session at Hampton Downs.

There were three free practice sessions on Friday, and M2 Competition’s Ugochukwu topped the first by the slimmest margin. He set a 1m30.047s to pip Hitech GP’s Kanato Le by 0.001 seconds, and MTEC Motorsport’s Ryan Wood was just 0.003s off in third. Hitech’s Jin Nakamura trailed by 0.195s in fourth, as a second covered the top 14.

A 1m30.234s earned tin-top star and single-seater debutant Wood first place in FP2, with a tiny 0.042s advantage over Nakmura and 0.089s to Le. Ugochukwu was fourth, 0.175s off, and team-mate Freddie Slater was a further 0.013s back.

Wood lowered the pace to 1m29.764s in FP3, and this time had a 0.287s gap to Slater in second. Nakamura, MTEC’s Louis Sharp and HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed’s James Wharton were the only other drivers within half a second of him. Two-time World Rally champion Kalle Rovanpera was 15th in practice.

Qualifying took place on Saturday, and with 19 cars on track traffic posed a risk throughout the 15-minute session.

At the halfway point, Ugochukwu led Sharp, Slater, Wharton and Wood. Many drivers had not set representative laptimes, while the provisional poleman had already posted a 1m29.953s.

He improved to 1m29.794s next time by, but Slater moved ahead by 0.102s. The Briton was only top for 13s before Wood set a 1m29.612s, and Nakamura rose to third with a lap 0.063s quicker than Ugochukwu’s.

On the following lap, Ugochukwu made a half-second gain to reclaim top spot and he remained there to the finish. With two minutes remaining he lowered the pace to 1m29.267s, with Slater 0.142s behind, then traffic meant he bailed out of his next flyer.

“It’s been a good couple of days, pace has been good. I was pretty confident coming into quali, knowing I just had to put a good lap together,” said Ugochukwu.

Sharp snatched second place just before the chequered flag waved, lapping 0.007s shy of pole. Le and Nakamura shuffled Wood down to sixth by setting personal bests, but he then moved back up to fifth. Rovanpera qualified 1.04s off the pace in 16th.

“I had two laps probably I think within two hundredths of a pole, so it was a shame not either one of them was quite enough,” mused Sharp.

Slater “had a few moments out there which weren’t optimal” and reflected on Hampton Downs’ challenges.

“The track’s super bumpy, so there’s never the perfect lap. There never will be around here. So it’s just the little fine margins that obviously cost a lot. And also the tyres get quite hot here as well. Especially through the first and second sector, and then when you get to the hairpins where the traction becomes quite difficult.”

Qualifying results

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Photo: TGR NZ

MTEC Motorsport’s Louis Sharp was fastest in Formula Regional Oceania’s sole pre-season test action at Hampton Downs on Thursday.

The day was split into two sessions, and in the first Sharp set a 1m30.067s in the first half of his run plan to top the timesheet.

Hitech GP’s Jin Nakamura got within 0.043 seconds of his benchmark, and on his penultimate lap M2 Competition’s Ugo Ugochukwu lapped 0.19s shy of Sharp’s pace.

MTEC’s single-seater newcomer Ryan Wood was an impressive fourth fastest, only 0.245s slower than his team-mate, and M2’s Freddie Slater completed the top five.

A second covered the top 12, with Hitech’s Fionn McLaughlin only completing three laps but still managing to go 11th fastest. His team-mate and two-time World Rally champion Kalle Rovanpera was the only other driver to not record 10 laptimes, and he ended the session 1.314s off the pace in 15th.

Both improved their pace in session two, along with M2’s Ernesto Rivera, Giles Motorsport’s Jack Taylor, Kiwi Motorsport’s Cooper Shipman and HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed duo Cadi Baptista and Trevor LaTourrette.

McLaughlin and Shipman were the only ones to improve their placing in the test’s overall classification, rising to fifth and 16th respectively.

Most drivers got faster as session two went on, with many personal bests set late in run plans. A 1m30.127s on his penultimate lap put Nakamura on top, 0.338s ahead of McLaughlin who also made a pace gain one lap before ending his day.

Wood trailed by 0.408s in third, with Hitech’s Kanato Le and Sharp next up. Slater’s quickest lap of the session came on lap six of 16, and left him down in seventh place. This time the top 10 was split by 0.728s, with everyone else over a second off Nakamura’s pace. Rovanpera was 13th, 1.134s back.

Test results

The post Sharp fastest in FRegional Oceania’s pre-season test running appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Red Bull

Red Bull junior Ernesto Rivera will start 2026 racing in Formula Regional Oceania as part of M2 Competition’s line-up.

The 17-year-old Mexican heads to New Zealand before stepping up to the FIA Formula 3 Championship with Campos Racing.

Rivera has two years of single-seater experience under his belt, most of it with Campos. He debuted in the 2024 Formula Winter Series, coming 15th with one podium, then was fifth in Spanish Formula 4 with one win and one other podium.

A points-scoring British F4 cameo with Hitech GP completed his 2024 schedule, and Rivera’s 2025 began with Pinnacle Motorsport in FRegional Middle East. He made the podium once en route to ninth in the standings, then returned to Campos for the finale of Eurocup-3’s winter series.

That preceded a campaign in the main Eurocup-3 championship, in which he scored three wins, four other podiums, two poles and came fourth in the standings. Rivera had been championship leader at the season’s halfway point, but only scored twice in the last four rounds.

Also joining FRegional Oceania are Cadi Baptista (HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed) and Ryan Wood (MTEC Motorsport).

Baptista, 18, came 10th in his home country Brazil’s F4 championship this year and the highlight was a win at Autodromo Velo Citta.

“I am really looking forward to driving in New Zealand and to experience racing outside of Brazil and Europe for the first time,” he said. “I want to score points in the races and learn as much as I can, it’s going to be a great experience and hopefully will set me up for a strong 2026 season in the northern hemisphere.”

Wood will be making his single-seater debut in FRegional Oceania, just like Hitech’s Kalle Rovanpera.

The 22-year-old Kiwi started off in sportscars, then progressed into tin-tops two years ago via Australia’s second-tier Super2 Series. He took five wins, four poles and ended up third in the points table. He was driving for the Walkinshaw Andretti United team, who promoted him to its Australian Supercars line-up for 2024.

Two fourth places were the best results of his rookie campaign, while in 2025 he got through the title fight’s first cutoff stage to come 10th in the points table. He won one race, finished third six times, and started on pole on three occasions.

“I’m super excited to make my open-wheel racing debut, for me it’s always been something I’ve wanted to do and especially with Toyota and in FRegional Oceania,” Wood revealed. “I’ve watched the championship since I was in karts so to be doing it now and on home soil is very exciting.

“For me the four weeks of racing is all about learning and preparing for the 2026 season. I’m delighted to join MTEC and learn off my team-mates and develop as a driver. It’s a real full circle moment racing Toyotas in NZ again after starting in 86s so I can’t wait to get into it!”

The post Eurocup-3 race-winner Rivera to race for M2 in FRegional Oceania appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Louis Sharp will return to racing in New Zealand next month as he joins MTEC Motorsport for Formula Regional Oceania.

The 18-year-old was born in England but raised in New Zealand, where he became one of the country’s most successful ever karters on the domestic scene and started his car racing career.

He debuted in Formula First back in 2020, then stepped up to Formula Ford where he came fifth in the 2021-22 South Island season before local single-seater manufacturer Rodin Cars backed a relocation of his career to Europe.

His first two years were with Carlin, a team which Rodin then took over and Sharp continued to drive for as he made his way up the ladder. Joining MTEC will therefore be his first time racing for a different outfit since his South Island FFord days.

“I am honoured to be joining MTEC Motorsport in the upcoming FRegional Oceania Trophy season, and must thank the Tony Quinn Foundation for its support,” said Sharp.

“This championship has been on my bucket list since I first started karting so to be aligning myself with both Tony Quinn and MTEC is a dream come true and a great opportunity for me to draw from the knowledge and experience they both hold.”

With Carlin, Sharp sepnt two seasons in British Formula 4 and after coming fourth in the standings with two wins as a rookie he romped to the 2023 title with six victories and eight other podiums. At the end of 2022 he also won the single-round Formula Trophy event in the United Arab Emirates.

After the team became Rodin Motorsport, Sharp stepped up to GB3 and won the title as a rookie with five victories and five other podiums, then to the FIA Formula 3 Championship this year but was less competitive as he was 26th in the standings. Next year he will remain on the grid and switch to Prema’s line-up.

Another Antipodean headed to FRegional Oceania in 2026 is Karting Australia’s former director and Formula 1’s former race director Michael Masi. He will become event director of the NextGen NZ Championship, the programme of race events which FRegional Oceania is part of the billing of, and has been appointed by the national governing body MotorSport New Zealand.

Nicolas Caillol, motorsport manager for FRegional Oceania promoter Toyota Gazoo Racing NZ, said: “Michael has been a tremendous supporter of FRegional Oceania for many years, and his dedication was instrumental in helping us secure the first allocation of [FIA] superlicence points back in 2018.

“His arrival will further strengthen the MotorSport NZ official team and undoubtedly deliver significant benefits to the sport, both for our competitors and the wider motorsport community.”

The post Louis Sharp ticks off bucket list item by joining FRegional Oceania grid appeared first on Formula Scout.