Photo: TGR NZ

Once he made a safe return to Europe, after extreme weather hit New Zealand as he went to leave the country, Charlie Wurz joined the Formula Scout Podcast to discuss his title-winning campaign down under

This year the Toyota Racing Series returned with a new name, a field of international talents and brilliant racing. The COVID-19 pandemic led to the 2022 season being cancelled, and the series’ comeback as Formula Regional Oceania last month was full of close battles and dramatic moments.

The New Zealand Grand Prix also made a return, attracting some familiar faces from the race’s past, and the points lead changed hands twice during the final round of the season.

M2 Competition’s Charlie Wurz emerged as champion, and joined this week’s Formula Scout Podcast – but only after he had got back to Europe safely as a cyclone struck down under just as he was planning to fly home!

You can listen to the episode on Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Castbox, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and below, and can read the interview too.

The post Podcast: Catching up with FRegional Oceania champion Charlie Wurz appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: TGR NZ

Charlie Wurz won the Formula Regional Oceania title with a lights-to-flag victory in the final race at Taupo.

The gap between Wurz and title rival Callum Hedge was reduced to three points pre-race by Josh Mason get a 30-second penalty and a two-point deduction for causing a crash in the penultimate race, and Hedge started fifth on the grid for the finale.

A jumped start by Liam Sceats meant he was able to pressure Wurz through lap one until Laurens van Hoepen passed him for second, and Hedge got into fourth on lap two by passing Kaleb Ngatoa on the inside of the chicane.

He was seven seconds behind the leader after seven laps though, and needed to beat him on track to overhaul him in the title race, with van Hoepen keeping Wurz on his toes up front.

As the race approached halfway point it moved further into Wurz’s favour, as van Hoepen started to struggle with his front tyres and light rain arriving made track conditions unpredictable.

Wurz’s lead surpassed a second on lap 10, but Hedge was now closing in the top three and six laps later there was now 3.2s between the top two but 5.1s between first and fourth.

That gap then slimmed down to almost nothing as Adam Fitzgerald crashed into Ryder Quinn while trying to pass him and it led to the safety car being called out for two laps.

Hedge did not end up profiting from it though, as the charging James Penrose – who had started 12th – passed him before they’d even crossed the line at the restart.

Penrose also cleared Sceats on the restart lap, and Hedge got by him a lap later, but it would have no impact on the title fight as Wurz pulled away again in the worsening rain to win the race and the championship.

Van Hoepen and Penrose completed the podium, with Hedge fourth and Sceats fifth despite a five-second penalty for his jumped start.

Race results (23 laps)

The post Wurz wins Taupo finale to be crowned FRegional Oceania champion appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: TGR NZ

Giles Motorsport’s Chloe Chambers became the first woman to win in Formula Regional Oceania in the penultimate race of the season.

Chambers started on reversed-grid pole and held off an attack from Kaleb Ngatoa through turn three on the opening lap before the top two then concentrated on breaking away from a queue of cars sitting behind Charlie Wurz in third.

Ngatoa stuck his nose in at the chicane on lap three, but by lap eight of 18 had fallen a second behind Chambers and by the finish was 1.582s back after dropping a big chunk of time on lap 13.

“Definitely feels really good, it’s my first win in cars as well. To get it here after everything this season [is special],” said Chambers after victory, adding to finally claim her first single-seater win was “super important to me”.

The previous best results from women in the series were a podium achieved by Christina Orr in 2006 and a fifth place finish for Tatiana Calderon in 2013.

Wurz held on to third until the finish, and he said “I think I destroyed the tyres a bit yesterday [in race one] so it was a tough race”.

That showed as the top two were usually half a second a lap faster than him, and he had to be careful with his car positioning to keep Ryan Shehan, Josh Mason, Laurens van Hoepen, Liam Sceats, Callum Hedge, Louis Foster and Jacob Abel behind.

The order in the top 10 went unchanged from lap two to lap 15, when Abel lost 10th place to Ryder Quinn, then on the final lap there was drama as Josh Mason locked up at the turn 11 hairpin and ploughed into Shehan, spinning him off the track.

Van Hoepen inherited fourth, and provisionally Mason finishes fifth ahead of Sceats, Hedge and Foster. That means Wurz moves past Hedge by four points into the championship lead ahead of the title-deciding race, but if Mason is penalised it could bring the top two closer.

The only retirement from the race was Lucas Fecury, who had a mid-race off and later retired in the pits with suspected suspension trouble.

Race results (18 laps)

The post Chloe Chambers becomes first woman to win in FRegional Oceania appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: TGR NZ

M2 Competition’s Charlie Wurz has put himself on pole for the Formula Regional Oceania title decider later today at Taupo.

Wurz was first out of the pits in the second qualifying session of the weekend, and laid down the first benchmark of 1m29.451s.

He was only briefly ahead as Kaleb Ngatoa lapped in the 1m27s, then Foster – the last driver to set a lap – got into the 1m26s.

Laurens van Hoepen brough the pace down further to 1m25.027s, putting him 0.055 seconds up on Foster and with Wurz in third.

There was then drama for James Penrose, who ran off track and had to travel through the run-off for a long time before being able to rejoin the circuit.

Wurz reclaimed top spot with his fourth lap, a 1m24.666s, only for main title rival Callum Hedge to better him by 0.055s and then for Foster to outdo them both with a 1m24.430s lap.

Most of the drivers then went on a cool-down lap next time by, making sure the tyres would be able to last the rest of the run.

It proved effective, as Wurz and van Hoepen improved their best laptime on their first lap back at pace and surpassed Foster. The previous pacesetter did also go faster, but it could put him no higher than third.

Wurz improved again next time by, and his 1m24.054s lap ultimately secured him pole as he then did another cool-down lap and did not go faster on his final effort.

Liam Sceats’ penultimate lap lifted him to second, just 0.023s off Wurz, and a lack of improvements from others meant van Hoepen qualified third, Foster fourth and Hedge down in fifth.

Qualifying results

The post Wurz puts himself on pole for FRegional Oceania title decider appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: TGR NZ

Callum Hedge resisted race-long pressure from Louis Foster to win the opening Formula Regional Oceania race at Taupo and take the points lead.

Poleman Hedge held off Foster into turn one, but had to repeat that effort when the race was red-flagged after Jacob Abel, Bree Morris and James Penrose collided at turn one. Abel had been turned around by another driver, and the other two could not find the room to get past his spun car.

It was a long break before the field set off again, and this time they ran behind the safety car before going racing rather than doing a standing start.

Foster got all over the rear of Hedge down the straight to the chicane at the end of the lap, and tried for a move only once there despite repeatedly through the race having more pace than the leader heading into that corner.

The issue was the chicane was one of the tighest places on the lap, and when Foster tried attacking into the wider turn one he frequently locked up or ended up wrestling his car through the corner.

Hedge could never escape, but Foster also could not get the gap between them under three tenths of a second and after 18 laps they finished 0.389s apart.

Laurens van Hoepen finished 2.293s behind in third, with Liam Sceats a further two seconds back in fourth.

Pre-race points leader Charlie Wurz started and finished fifth, briefly holding off some pressure from Kaleb Ngatoa but otherwise looking unlikely to finish anywhere other than fifth. It means he drops three points behind Hedge in the standings.

David Morales lost sixth place to a 31s penalty, dropping him to 14th and last place.

Race results (18 laps)

The post Hedge moves into FRegional Oceania points lead with Taupo win appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: TGR NZ

Callum Hedge pipped Louis Foster to pole for the first Formula Regional Oceania race of the weekend at Taupo.

Pole puts Hedge in a good position in terms of the title fight as his main rival Charlie Wurz was only able to qualify fifth.

Laurens van Hoepen was fastest after the first flying laps had been set, then Foster went fastest by just 0.086 seconds over Kaleb Ngatoa.

Foster’s next lap put him 0.3s clear of van Hoepen, but Wurz then cut the gap to pole down to 0.05s with his fourth lap.

Hedge also got his tyres in the sweet spot for lap four of his qualifying run, and he moved into provisional pole position by 0.006s.

But when Foster crossed the line he returned to first place, by a slim 0.065s.

Both he and Hedge were able to improve further, with the gap decreasing to 0.061s, while Chloe Chambers and then van Hoepen had an off.

M2 Competition had “tried something” on van Hoepen’s car “which didn’t work, which I think compromised the whole run”, revealed the Dutchman.

It involved braking later and having different gearing for the corner of his off, and it only resulted in his car then swalling a lot of dirt from the run-off.

While it removed him from pole contention, he at least had more luck than Kiwi Motorsport’s James Penrose who was unable to set even a single timed lap due to gear selection problems. His team spent most of qualifying working at the rear of his car on the issue.

Going into the final minutes of qualifying, Hedge came to the fore as he set a 1m24.476s lap to go 0.078s ahead of Foster.

A final-lap improvement from Foster wasn’t enough, as he was 0.021s slower than Hedge who credited “some pretty significant changes to the car” since practice for being able to qualify at the front.

Van Hoepen found no further pace and qualified third, while an improvement at the very end from Liam Sceats put him fourth and knocked points leader Wurz down to fifth.

Qualifying results

The post Hedge pips Foster to FRegional Oceania pole, Wurz qualifies fifth appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: TGR NZ

Laurens van Hoepen has revealed how tough it was to hold off Louis Foster to win the 2023 New Zealand Grand Prix.

The M2 Competition driver took pole but lost the lead to Giles Motorsport’s Foster on the opening lap before regaining his position at the front and then holding off Foster to the chequered flag in the lengthier 28-lap race at Hampton Downs.

Neither driver are contending for the Formula Regional Oceania, having only joined the series late in the season for part-time campaigns, but have been two of the fastest since making their respective debuts.

“I’m really, really happy. It was such a tough race,” van Hoepen said after winning the grand prix.

“Especially the last five laps, like I almost couldn’t hold the steering wheel anymore. But we’ve done a really good job, and I’m super happy to take the win.”

The 17-year-old, whose career has been mentored by Formula E world champion Nyck de Vries, is the second Dutch winner of the race following Richard Verschoor in 2018 and is also the second driver to win the grand prix at Hampton Downs as the venue first held the race in 2021 and the country’s COVID-19 pandemic response meant the 2022 race was cancelled.

“I didn’t feel like I was dropping the tyres, I actually just managed them,” van Hoepen explained about his race management from the front.

“I didn’t slide too much. I had a few times I had a bit of wheelspin, but afterwards I just kept nice in the traction zones. I managed them [the tyres] quite well, I think.”

Van Hoepen is currently embarking on his third FRegional campaign, having won in the Ultimate Cup Series in 2021 and raced in the FRegional European Championship in 2022. He will return to that series with ART Grand Prix later this year.

On his move to regain the lead, and ultimately win, van Hoepen added: “To be honest, before I was in the slipstream I didn’t even know – I was kind of debating whether i should do it now or should I wait? But it was really nice to just go up on the inside. Like it was quite close, but yeah, it was cool.

Grand prix runner-up Foster admitted there was nothing he could do to beat van Hoepen, eventually finishing 0.846 seconds behind, and praised his race-winning move.

“Good start, got around the outside into turn one and held the lead for almost a lap,” Foster said of his race.

“But yeah he put in a really, really good move, it was quite bold, quite an aggressive move. Sometimes you’ve got to take risks, and he did that and it paid off for him. Congratulations to him, he was fast all race, I really struggled to keep up with him and managed to just trade lap after lap and the gap [to him] didn’t really change. It was a good race.”

The post NZ GP winner “almost couldn’t hold steering wheel” in tense lead fight appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: TGR NZ

Laurens van Hoepen held off Louis Foster to win the 2023 New Zealand Grand Prix, part of the Formula Regional Oceania championship.

Van Hoepen led for the majority of the 28-lap race with a comfortable lead over Foster before a late charge from the British driver. It wasn’t enough to close in on van Hoepen, though, and he finished 0.8 seconds behind.

It was Foster who led the race after the first corner. The Brit got a better start than pole-sitting van Hoepen and came around the outside at turn one. The order didn’t last long, though, with van Hoepen coming back later in the lap to retake the lead. 

In the opening laps, the top two ran together, but van Hoepen gradually pulled out a lead to Foster, at one point 1.8s ahead of the USF Pro 2000 champion. 

Foster picked up the pace late in the race and started to close the gap, but didn’t have enough to challenge van Hoepen for victory. 

The battle for third was equally tense. Callum Hedge took the position on lap one, but couldn’t shake Kaleb Ngatoa. As the leaders continued to pull away at the front of the field, Hedge came under increasing pressure from Ngatoa and Chris van der Drift.

Hedge didn’t put a wheel wrong though, and it was Ngatoa who made a mistake first. A lock-up led to slight contact with Hedge, causing a small amount of damage to his front wing. A few corners later, Ngatoa dipped a wheel onto the grass, allowing van der Drift to come through. 

The small mistake allowed Hedge to break away a little, and it was van der Drift leading a train of drivers fighting for fourth. 

Ngatoa found a way past van der Drift and closed back onto the tail of Hedge late on. He still wasn’t able to make a move on him though, finishing 0.561s behind. 

Van der Drift finished fifth, just ahead of Liam Sceats, championship leader Charlie Wurz and Jacob Abel, a trio he passed with a strong opening lap. 

David Morales and Ryder Quinn completed the top 10 in an otherwise incident-free return of the grand prix after it was cancelled in 2022. 

Race results (28 laps)

The post Laurens van Hoepen wins New Zealand Grand Prix appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: TGR NZ

Charlie Wurz retook the Formula Regional Oceania points lead with victory in the reversed-grid race at Hampton Downs.  

Title rival Callum Hedge was taken out of contention before the end of the formation lap when an electrical problem brought him to a standstill. 

While Wurz waited on pole position, Hedge’s car came to a stop just before the grid. The team was unable to communicate via radio and the car was pushed back to the pits with what looked like a total battery failure. M2 Motorsport got to work on the car while the race got underway, and Hedge was able to get out five laps down. 

In the meantime, Wurz had held off Jacob Abel off the line. A fast-starting Brendon Lietch was not able to find a way past the front-row starters, but made it a three-way lead battle.

Racing was paused when Billy Frazer stopped on track after contact with Chloe Chambers left him with rear-left damage. 

After a brief safety car period, the battle between Wurz and Abel resumed. Leitch and Chris van der Drift would occasionally join the fight, but it was primarily a battle between the top two. 

Abel was able to get alongside Wurz at one point but could not quite make the move stick. Another move later in the race led to slight contact between them, but neither sustained any damage. 

In the closing stages, Laurens van Hoepen was slicing his way up through the order. A wide moment that sent him through the dust had not slowed his progress and he moved past Leitch to take third.  

The Dutch driver was looking to take the challenge to Abel in the final laps when a spin for Ryder Quinn left him stuck on track. The safety car was brought out with just one lap remaining. 

A victory for Wurz meant he reclaimed the championship lead from Hedge, who didn’t appear to have any more issues once out on track. Abel took his fourth podium of the season in second, with van Hoepen finishing third. 

Leitch took fourth ahead of van der Drift, Adam Fitzgerald and Liam Sceats. 

Race one winner Kaleb Ngatoa also had issues before the start of the race and had to start from the pitlane. Alongside Louis Foster, who started from the back of the grid, he spent the race climbing up through the order. Ngatoa would finish 13th, while Foster came home eighth.

Race results (19 laps)

The post Wurz reclaims FRegional Oceania lead as Hedge hits electrical issues appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: TGR NZ

Kaleb Ngatoa won on his first Formula Regional Oceania start for nearly two years after a fast getaway in race one at Hampton Downs.

Starting from the outside of the front row alongside series debutant Laurens van Hoepen, Ngatoa got a great launch to lead comfortably into the first corner.

Ngatoa’s advantage was soon above one second, and although van Hoepen closed back in during the second half of the race, the Giles Motorsport driver was able to respond.

There was a slight scare on the last lap when Ngatoa’s car twitched under braking for the downhill Dipper hairpin when van Hoepen showed his nose to the inside, but the 2021 Toyota Racing Series runner-up was able to hold on.

Callum Hedge ran a lonely third throughout to retake the championship lead by three points over Charlie Wurz, who had a challenging drive to eighth.

The inexperienced Adam Fitzgerald, in only his second weekend in FRegional, held off race-long attention from Kiwi racing veteran Chris van der Drift to finish fourth.

Louis Foster was running ahead of Fitzgerald in fourth early on but was battling a clutch issue that caused him to slip down the order before retiring.

Another returnee Brendon Leitch took sixth ahead of Jacob Abel, with Wurz just holding off Ryder Quinn for eighth. Wurz had fallen from seventh to 10th on the first lap, and then had a big lock up when he tried to dive down the inside of the struggling Foster at the Dipper on lap four.

From sixth on the grid, Liam Sceats was challenging Hedge for third in the early corners but found himself shuffled back to ninth by the end of lap two, and finished up 11th behind David Morales.

Race results (20 laps)

The post Ngatoa wins his first race back in Formula Regional Oceania appeared first on Formula Scout.