Photo: TGR NZ

Hitech GP’s Jin Nakamura claimed pole for the 2026 New Zealand Grand Prix by topping the final stage of qualifying at Highlands Motorsport Park.

The session was split into three segments, with the top 14 progressing from Q1 to Q2, then the top eight during the second period of track action making it to Q3. That group then fought for pole in the grand prix, the last race of Formula Regional Oceania’s season.

Liam Sceats, returning to the grid after winning the grand prix in 2024, was fastest at first in Q1 ahead of HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed team-mate James Wharton and Nakamura.

Louis Sharp moved to the top six minutes into the 15-minute session, a 1m29.577s putting him ahead of team-mate Ryan Wood by just 0.005 seconds. Zack Scoular made it an MTEC Motorsport 1-2-3, 0.222s behind, and Kiwi Motorsport’s Yevan David was fourth until Nakamura lowered the pace to 1m29.06s.

At that point his Hitech team-mate Kanato Le jumped to second, 0.192s off Nakamura’s pace, HMD’s returnee James Wharton improved to fifth and David was shuffled down to eighth. M2 Competition’s title contenders Ugo Ugochukwu and Freddie Slater were faring very badly, sitting 15th and 16th.

But approaching the halfway mark of the 15-minute session, Slater posted a 1m28.945s to go fastest and Wood set a 1m29.077s to sit third ahead of Le and M2’s Ernesto Rivera. Ugochukwu was now down in 19th, which was last place as Hitech GP’s Kalle Rovanpera was absent due to illness that manifested that followed pre-event testing.

Sharp returned to first place by 0.119s, but Nakamura shaved 0.07s off that benchmark and Le improved to 1m29.135s in fifth. A pace gain of almost 0.7s lifted Ugochukwu from last to first eight-and-a-half minutes in, a 1m28.735s getting him ahead of Nakamura by 0.021s.

With four-and-a-half minutes to go, Scoular and Wood moved into third and fourth with a 0.003s gap between them, and on the next lap there were marginal gains. Ugochukwu lowered the pace by 0.017s, Nakamura improved by 0.001s and Wood found 0.014s in improvements to rise to third.

Nakamura usurped Ugochukwu in the final 30s, edging ahead by 0.013s as Sharp matched Ugochukwu’s pace. Scoular made a gain in fourth, and there were no post-chequered flag improvements. Among the eliminated was Hitech’s Fionn McLaughlin.

Q2 was 10 minutes, and Nakamura was first to the top. He had a huge 1.447s gap to Le five-and-a-half minutes in, then Sceats slashed it to 0.781s, and Sharp also got within a second of him. At this point Slater was seventh and Ugochukwu had only done an outlap.

When Nakamura brought the pace down to 1m28.944s with three minutes to go, Slater became his closest rival 0.111s behind and the top nine all lapped sub-1m30s. Ugochukwu was still without a flying lap.

Slater went fastest with one minute left on the clock, setting a 1m28.486s to lead Wood by 0.276s and Sceats by 0.278s. Everyone improved including Ugochukwu, who was now 13th. He moved up to 10th with his next effort, then was demoted to 11th as Wharton went 10th quickest at the chequered flag. With his own final lap, Ugochukwu leapt up to fifth to secured his Q3 spot.

Le got within 0.153s of Slater after that, and Scoular lapped 0.215s off him to demote Wood to fourth.

Nakamura ended Q2 in seventh, but returned to the fore in the 12-minute Q3. He was on top until Sceats set a 1m29.388s six minutes in, then the next laps were in the 1m28s for most. Nakamura posted a 1m28.339s to lead Slater by 0.279s and Sceats by 0.307s, then Wood got within 0.205s of the provisional poleman.

Ugochukwu reduced that gap to the top down to 0.148s on his next lap, and Le demoted Slater to fifth.

Wood improved again in the final two minutes, but remained 0.1s from pole, and Scoular edged ahead of Le. The only change after that was Sharp beating Sceats to seventh after the chequered flag, and grand prix pole went to Nakamura.

Qualifying results

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Photo; TGR NZ

Australian Supercars champion Will Brown won the 2025 New Zealand Grand Prix in the season-ending Formula Regional Oceania race at Highlands Motorsport Park.

Giles Motorsport’s Brown (using Liam Lawson’s helmet) streaked into the lead as single-seater newcomer and Supercars team-mate Broc Feeney was weak off the line from pole position, and his MTEC Motorsport team-mate Zack Scoular also went past him at turn one.

Brown already had a gap as he braked for the turns two/three chicane, and later in the lap Feeney started pressuring Scoular as M2 Competition’s Arvid Lindblad – using a new tub after his car was destroyed in a lap one crash the previous race and the #1 as the newly crowned champion – almost went into the back of MTEC’s Shawn Rashid in the battle for fourth.

Lindbld tried a move at the end of the lap but Rashid managed to find room to squeeze past Feeney instead. Before he could have another go at getting into the top four, the safety car was called our and Brown’s lead of almost three seconds was eliminated.

M2’s Enzo Yeh had gone off, and when he had rejoined he was struck by Kiwi Motorsport’s James Lawley as he flew past. Yeh immediately parked up, and Lawley initially did the same before getting to the pits.

Racing resumed on lap six, and the top two made the jump on everyone else. This time Brown only built a 0.6-second lead, which he maintained with small variations until lap 16 when he finally grew it to 0.8s.

Lindblad attempted diving passed on Feeney at turn 14 on laps eight, 10 and 14, and just behind them was MTEC’s Patrick Heuzenroeder until he tapped a wall on lap nine and retired in the pits with damage.

Feeney overtook Rashid at the end of lap 14, but then he put wheels off on the next lap at turn 14 and dropped two places, with M2’s Michael Shin passing him at the turn 15/16 chicane too.

Lindblad finally passed Rashid (who had a loose nose panel) on lap 17, locking up as he dived down down his inside at turn 14 and getting the move complete before the next corner. He had 4.25s to make up on Scoular with 10 laps to go, and set the fastest lap two laps later as he chased him down.

Brown led by 1.4s after 21 laps, with Lindblad a further 2.9s behind, and two laps later Scoular reduced Brown’s gap to 1.1s as they entered the uncharted territory of the race’s extended distance.

Brown responded on lap 24 to pull 1.3s ahead, as Lindblad trailed Scoular by 2.3s, then managed his gap to the finish while still pushing.

He admitted he “was nervous about” the start and spent several hours thinking on how he could nail it, and admitted “I had a big moment on lap one through turn 10”. There was also praise for championship runner-up Scoular: “Zack was super fast. He was always there, [I] didn’t want to make a mistake.”

M2’s Matias Zagazeta exceeded track limits repeatedly, getting a five-second penalty by lap 11, a drive-through on lap 16 and a stop-go on lap 22. Kiwi’s Nicolas Stati received fa ive-second penalty on lap 21, and Lawley rejoined the race several laps down before retirning.

Race results (27 laps)

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Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Australian Supercars star Broc Feeney will join rival Will Brown on the grid of Formula Regional Oceania’s New Zealand Grand Prix.

The race is the very last of the season at Highlands Motorsport Park on February 9, and could be where the title is decided. Feeney will drive for MTEC Motorsport, taking the place of Josh Pierson who has a clashing Indy Nxt test.

Brown and Feeney have been team-mates at the Red Bull-backed Triple Eight team in Supercars since the start of 2024, and Brown went on to win last year’s title while Feeney won six races and was championship runner-up.

“I’m pumped to be coming over for the New Zealand GP at Highlands,” Feeney said of his upcoming single-seater debut. “It will be my first ever race in an open-wheeler and I am super excited to challenge myself.”

The 22-year-old Australian joined Triple Eight in Supercars for the final race of 2021, and following that came sixth in the 2022 standings and third the year after. In his first two seasons he won six races. He was also 2024 Bathurst 1000 runner-up, and third in the 2022 Bathurst 12 Hours in a car shared with Shane van Gisbergen.

Before making it to Supercars, Feeney was 2019 Super3 champion and 2021 Super2 champion.

Brown and Feeney are following the path of former Supercars stars Scott McLaughlin and van Gisbergen by making high-profile single-seater outings. McLaughlin now races in IndyCar, and van Gisbergen entered the 2021 New Zealand GP during FRegional Oceania’s previous state as the Toyota Racing Series and won all three races in his outing including the grand prix.

Brown has already done the first two rounds of the 2025 FRegional Oceania season with Giles Motorsport, taking a podium finish from each event.

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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.”

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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)

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Photo: TGR NZ

Laurens van Hoepen dominated a new Formula 1-style knockout qualifying format on his Formula Regional Oceania debut, claiming a double pole including the New Zealand Grand Prix.

Van Hoepen set the pace in the opening 15-minute session which would set the grid for Saturday’s first race at Hampton Downs and also eliminate the slowest six drivers.

The protege of AlphaTauri F1 driver Nyck de Vries, preparing for his second season in FRegional Europe with ART Grand Prix, was fastest by exactly one tenth of a second over one of the other additions to the grid for this weekend, Kaleb Ngatoa.

Callum Hedge was third ahead of Louis Foster, while championship leader Charlie Wurz will have to make do with seventh on the grid for race one.

Among those failing to make it through to Q2 were James Penrose, a two-time winner this season, as well as Billy Frazer. Tom McLennan did not take part in qualifying having already missed practice time on Friday after aggravating a wrist injury.

The 10-minute Q2 session reduced the field from 14 to the fastest eight. Just over a tenth of a second covered sixth through to 12th, and guest starter Chris van der Drift narrowly missed the cut in ninth by only 0.017s.

Adam Fitzgerald was fifth in Q1 but only 12th in Q2, with multiple Toyota Racing Series race-winner Brendon Leitch also among those exiting in 13th.

Van Hoepen was quickest again in Q2 but Q3 would prove to be the hardest-fought session at the front.

Wurz displaced his M2 Competition team-mate from top spot in the final five minutes, before Ngatoa set two laps that were narrowly quicker as he looked to repeat his GP pole of 2021. Liam Sceats then went over a tenth clear.

Wurz briefly claimed back provisional pole inside the last minute before van Hoepen immediately went more than a quarter of a second faster.

Foster claimed second, only 0.044s from pole in the end, with Ngatoa pipping Hedge to third. Wurz and Sceats will share row three.

Qualifying round-up
Race one grid
1 Laurens van Hoepen M2 Competition 1m30.697s
2 Kaleb Ngatoa Giles Motorsport +0.100s
3 Callum Hedge M2 Competition +0.161s
4 Louis Foster Giles Motorsport +0.234s
5 Adam Fitzgerald Giles Motorsport +0.283s
6 Liam Sceats M2 Competition +0.305s
7 Charlie Wurz M2 Competition +0.312s
8 David Morales M2 Competition +0.445s
9 Ryder Quinn M2 Competition +0.448s
10 Brendon Leitch Kiwi Motorsport +0.483s

Race three grid (NZ GP)
1 van Hoepen 1m29.877s
2 Foster +0.044s
3 Ngatoa +0.115s
4 Hedge +0.184s
5 Wurz +0.278s
6 Sceats +0.314s
7 Jacob Abel Kiwi Motorsport +0.494s
8 Morales +0.543s
9 van der Drift Hamilton Motorsport
10 Josh Mason Kiwi Motorsport

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Photo: TGR NZ

Having waited over a year for the opportunity, James Penrose will finally get to use his prize New Zealand Grand Prix drive in the 2023 edition of the event.

In 2021, Penrose won a seven-driver shootout organised by oil supplier Castrol to recieve a fully-funded NZ GP seat and become the official event ambassador. However the nation’s COVID-19 restrictions led to it being cancelled this January.

The event returns next February as part of the Formula Regional Oceania championship, which was previously known as the Toyota Racing Series. Penrose will not only get to contest the grand prix, but he will do the full season with Kiwi Motorsport.

“I’m immensely excited to compete in the 2023 FRegional Oceania Championship,” Penrose said.

“The series has been world-renowned for years and I expect this season to be incredibly competitive as the field of drivers is very talented.

“Castrol is an iconic brand and synonymous with motorsport, so I feel privileged to be partnered with them and Kiwi Motorsport for the season. Additionally, an enormous thank you goes to my personal sponsors for helping me make the grid for the season.

“My main focus will be to learn the car and extract speed out of myself and I hope to find my pace strong enough to compete with the frontrunners.”

Penrose is new to slicks-and-wings racing, having established himself as a star of Formula Ford at home and abroad. He was secondary class champion in the New Zealand and South Island championships in 2019, and fought for the national title in the top class a year later.

It all came together in 2021 when he won the NZ FFord Festival and became national and South Island champion.

• Podcast: The young Festival drivers coming from across the globe

At the time he also became the latest recipient of the backing of ‘Driver to Europe’ scheme, but was not able to utilise that until late in 2022 when he travelled to England to contest two classic FF1600 events: the FFord Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy.

Driving for Scottish team Border Reivers, he came 20th in the Festival and a penalised 21st at the WHT after finishing ninth on the road.

Callum Crawley, the runner-up in the Castrol shootout, also recieved NZ$15,000 to use towards a NZ GP drive. He came 15th in NZ FFord this year, having only contested one of the series’ two rounds, and has not raced since.

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Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing NZ

The date and location of next year’s 67th edition of the New Zealand Grand Prix has finally been officially announced by Toyota Gazoo Racing NZ.

First revealed by Toyota to Italian press last month, the grand prix will take place at Hampton Downs for the second time in its history and do so on the full international layout of the track on February 5. It will be the third race of the penultimate round.

The most recent edition of the grand prix ran at Hampton in 2021, with the race being called off last year due to the country’s strict COVID-19 restrictions, and was won by Shane van Gisbergen from a pitlane start in a thriller.

Several local drivers are anticipated to be announced in the next few weeks as being on the grid, with Callum Hedge the only Kiwi confirmed so far. Four other drivers have been signed and announced.

“There’s a significant number of very talented youngsters coming through the ranks which is particularly impressive for a small country,” said TGR NZ’s motorsport manager Nicolas Caillol.

“Some of the very best are set to join Callum on the grid alongside significant international talent and that’s great news for the sport in New Zealand.

“It’s going to be great to be back with a full international field at the Grand Prix and great that the venue for that will be the international Hampton Downs circuit, which is just a perfect challenge for the drivers and teams.”

Last year a three-segment qualifying format had been planned for the grand prix, with Q1 setting the grid for the Dorothy Smith Memorial Cup race. Q2 and Q3 then were both be used for the grand prix, with all drivers competing in Q2 and then the eight fastest from there progressing to the next segment to fight for NZ GP pole and a prize of NZ$500.

Parts of that plan are already confirmed to be carried over into 2023, including splitting qualifying into three segments. The change is the top 10 fastest drivers from Q2 will progress to Q3 a la Formula 1.

There will be a $5,000 prize for the NZ GP winner, with second place earning $3,000 prize and third bagging $2,000.

Before the grand prix weekend, TRS goes to Highlands Motorsport Park (January 13-15), Teretonga (January 20-22) and Manfeild (January 27-29). Folowing the NZ GP, the season concludes at Taupo on February 10-12.

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Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing NZ

The organisers of the New Zealand Grand Prix have cancelled this year’s edition, citing limited international quarantining space.

Following the cancellation of the 2022 Toyota Racing Series, Toyota Gazoo Racing New Zealand had planned to use the series’ Tatuus FT-60 cars to still stage the 67th running of the NZ GP at Hampton Downs on February 12/13.

But with the circuit lying on New Zealand’s North Island, and drivers from the South Island and Australia wanting to enter, a recent change in isolation and quarantine requirements has made participation from overseas unworkable.

“We have waited until the last possible moment to give potential drivers a chance to get to New Zealand for the GP event,” said TGR NZ’s motorsport manager Nicolas Caillol.

“However, with the border restrictions currently in place and all of those drivers simply unable to find MIQ [Managed Isolation and Quarantine] spots, we do not believe we can run the grand prix that we or the spectators want to see or that the event itself deserves, so we have very reluctantly decided to cancel this year’s race.”

While only one driver had been confirmed for the event, 2020-21 NZ Formula Ford champion James Penrose, at least eight more were lined up to compete but could not secure an MIQ spot in an approved isolation location.

“Those eight would have made a big difference to the quality and size of our grid for the grand prix and had they been able to get here, we would have been able to put on a great show,” added Caillol.

“We are so thankful many great Kiwi drivers wanted to return to help support this great event and our young drivers. I’d like to extend my thanks to everyone involved, this decision was not in spite of your efforts.”

Last year’s grand prix was limited to domestic drivers, but did include professional racing stars and was won by Shane van Gisbergen who is now a two-time Supercars champion. This will be the second time this century it has not gone ahead, following 2001, and is the seventh time in total the grand prix has missed a year since its inaugural running in 1950.

MotorSport New Zealand and event promoter SpeedWorks Events have confirmed the race weekend will still go ahead with the planned support races as well as the potential addition of “a signature race to replace the grand prix”.

“The New Zealand GP is one of the most significant events on NZ’s motorsport calendar and the decision to not run in 2022 has not been taken lightly,” said MotorSport New Zealand’s chief executive officer Elton Goonan.

“We will continue to work with the FIA and TGR NZ to plan for the 2023 season and enable our local drivers to showcase their talent against some of the world’s up-and-coming best.”

TRS is popular with drivers across the globe as a way of gaining racing mileage during the European off-season, and has had several drivers graduate to Formula 1.

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Photo: TGR NZ

Formula Ford star James Penrose has become the first driver to secure a slot on the 2022 New Zealand Grand Prix grid.

The 25-year-old will enter the Hampton Downs event, planned to take place on February 10-13, as the official grand prix ambassador and with his drive in the Formula Regional-spec Toyota Racing Series car paid for by oil supplier Castrol.

He went up against six other Kiwis, from a list of 66 applicants, to recieve the brand’s support. The seven finalists were assessed on and off-track last month and runner-up Callum Crawley also recieved NZ$15,000 to use towards a NZ GP drive.

“I knew – like all the drivers – that I had a shot at winning but it’s amazing to have actually been selected by Castrol to represent them in the grand prix,” said Penrose.

“They’ve gone the extra mile to make this happen and I am determined to deliver on the faith they have shown in me.

“When you see who was on the shortlist, let alone in the bigger 66 strong application list, I know that the opportunity could have easily gone to another driver such is the quality in that group. It’s very exciting for me to be the guy selected from that group to race in these iconic colours. I can’t wait.”

Penrose is the reigning NZ FFord champion and also the South Island FFord champion. He has competed in the wingless category for several years and before that was a national champion in lower level karting.

He will do several tests before the grand prix weekend in the Tatuus FT-60 car that he will be racing in.

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