Photo: Matt Smith Photography / NIFF

Jack Groenewald leads the 2025 leg of the North Island Formula Ford season, despite going win-free in the first 10 races.

The 2025-26 campaign began at Hampton Downs on October 5, and top of the class in qualifying were two-time champion Dylan Grant and Campbell Owens. While 0.334 seconds split the pair, there was then a gap of 1.649s to Groenewald in third.

Grant converted pole into victory in race one, building a 3.541s lead over Owens. The fight for third was far more exciting, with Toby McCormack pipping Groenewald by 0.078s in a photo finish. It was a similar story in the battle for fifth, with William Beck claiming the position by 0.084s over Shane Drake and with Oliver Sentch only 0.096s further behind. Post-race, McCormack was disqualifieddue to technical non-compliance.

In race two it was lights-to-flag for Grant, who stunned with a winning margin of 6.866s over Owens. Reigning champion McCormack was 10s behind the winner in third, ahead of Groenewald.

Grant made a slow start from pole in race three, dropping behind Owens and McCormack. By the time Grant got back past McCormack, Owens was 1.5s clear and able to maintain that gap to the finish while McCormack kept Grant in his sights. Groenewald was a distant fourth and Sentch finished fifth by just 0.056s.

However since Owens then got disqualified from the whole meeting due to technical infringements, it meant Grant (who had been suffering from a fuel issue) won and Groenewald’s point haul put him second in the standings.

Grant then graduated to muscle car racing, so was not present for round two at Taupo on November 9 and Groenewald became the driver to beat in the standings. He showed his potential in qualifying, edging Owens to pole by 0.076s. Beck trailed by 0.752s in third.

Results round-up

The longer race four, which awarded the Dan Higgins Trophy, was a thriller which Owens started from pole. He lost the lead on lap one to McCormack, who then had a race-ending brake failure which triggered a safety car period. That put Owens back in front, and while he did not have a big pace advantage the frantic battling behind allowed him to win by 6.68s.

Beck, Groenewald, Sentch and Drake fought hard and Groenewald took the runner-up spot by just 0.024s over Beck. Sentch was a further 0.195s behind, and 0.104s ahead of Drake.

The remaining two rounds are in March 2026, and also count towards New Zealand’s national FFord championship.

The post Jack Groenewald leads 2025 leg of North Island FFord season appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Geoff Ridder

Blake Dowdall was crowned 2025 New Zealand Formula Ford champion in the final round at Manfeild last weekend.

He put one hand on the title by doubling his gap at the top of the standings in round three at Hampton Downs on March 21-23 despite Toby McCormack winning all three races.

McCormack topped every practice session, then in qualifying set a 1m09.284s to beat rookie Marco Manson (the 14-year-old brother of Formula Regional race-winner Sebastian) to pole by 0.207 seconds. James Penrose, the 2021 champion, was a further 0.084s behind and Dowdall was 0.005s slower than him in fourth.

Manson took the lead from McCormack at the start of race one, but a mistake later in the lap put McCormack back ahead. Dowdall meanwhile dropped outside the top 10, but had the pace to recover to fourth and grow his points lead since main title rival William Neale had retired in a crash that brought out the safety car.

McCormack dominated race two, winning by 6.77s over Penrose. There was a close fight for third, with Manson pipping Lincon Taylor, Neale and Dowdall.

Penrose went from third to first at the start of race three, but McCormack reclaimed top spot on lap two and pulled away for another dominant success that earned him the North Island FFord points lead.

A five-way fight for second was decided in a photo finish. Neale took runner-up spot by 0.004s over Manson, with Penrose being passed by both as he finished a further 0.005s back. Dowdall was 0.131s away from the podium, and Dylan Grant was 0.145s behind him.

At Manfeild it was Penrose led the way in practice, but he was only fifth fastest in a damp qualifying session. McCormack took pole, a 1m15.47s earning him top spot by 0.033s over Dowdall. Neale and Izaak Fletcher also beat Penrose.

The top two qualifiers diced through race one, and Dowdall emerged triumphant by 0.419s. Some way further back, Neale stayed in title contention by edging Penrose to third by 0.279s.

Setting the fastest lap meant Dowdall got to start race two from pole, and he led through the first half under pressure. McCormack learned how Dowdall defended against his various attacks, and eventually made a move that put him ahead. He led Dowdall across the line at the end, and Penrose struck back against Neale in the battle for third.

The next day McCormack was on pole again, and now Dowdall’s main title rival. That status would not last long, as Dowdall became champion by pipping him to race three victory by 0.046s.

He at least had pole for the Morrie Smith Memorial Trophy-awarding final race, but that went in Dowdall’s favour too as a mistake dropped McCormack down the order. A safety car period helped him recover to fifth, enough to beat Dowdall to the NIFF title.

Dowdall won the race with Neale right on his tail, and with Penrose just 0.3s behind. Finishing fourth was NZ FFord’s top rookie Jacob Begg.

Results round-up
Hampton Downs race 1 (15 laps)
1 Toby McCormack 20m48.169s
2 Marco Manson +0.740s
3 James Penrose +1.372s
4 Blake Dowdall +1.864s
5 Jacob Begg +2.155s
6 Campbell Owens +2.423s
7 Jack Groenewald +2.962s
8 Shane Drake +3.556s
9 Dylan Petch +3.807s
10 Izaak Fletcher +4.106s
Pole: McCormack, 1m09.284s
Fastest lap: Dowdall, 1m09.705s

Hampton Downs race 2 (17 laps)
1 McCormack 19m52.773s
2 Penrose +6.770s
3 Manson +14.596s
4 Lincoln Taylor +14.685s
5 William Neale +14.922s
6 Dowdall +15.046s
7 Dylan Grant +15.602s
8 Leo Scott +16.061s
9 Fletcher +17.955s
10 Groenewald +18.001s
FL: McCoremack, 1m09.210s

Ron Frost Memorial Trophy (16 laps)
1 McCormack 20m16.854s
2 Neale +7.813s
3 Manson +7.817s
4 Penrose +8.122s
5 Dowdall +8.248s
6 Grant +8.393s
7 Begg +10.479s
8 Taylor +12.826s
9 Owens +13.674s
10 Drake +13.702s
FL: McCormack, 1m09.499s

Manfeild race 1 (12 laps)
1 Dowdall 14m47.089s
2 McCormack +0.419s
3 Neale +9.659s
4 Penrose +9.938s
5 Begg +15.830s
6 Fletcher +16.171s
7 Petch +16.251s
8 Groenewald +16.966s
9 Drake +17.063s
10 Grant +18.054s
P: McCormack, 1m15.470s
FL: Dowdall, 1m13.052s

Manfeild race 2 (12 laps)
1 McCormack 14m45.370s
2 Dowdall +0.127s
3 Penrose +5.568s
4 Neale +6.102s
5 Grant +8.360s
6 Begg +8.483s
7 Petch +8.606s
8 Groenewald +13.032s
9 Drake +13.253s
10 Fletcher +13.739s
FL: McCormack, 1m12.654s

Manfeild race 3 (12 laps)
1 Dowdall 14m42.058s
2 McCormack +0.046s
3 Neale +3.106s
4 Grant +3.313s
5 Begg +12.882s
6 Fletcher +13.038s
7 Groenwald +13.144s
8 Drake +18.940s
9 Mason Potter +20.860s
10 Penrose +21.904s
FL: McCormack, 1m12.610s

Morrie Smith Memorial Trophy (18 laps)
1 Dowdall 26m12.126s
2 Neale +0.114s
3 Penrose +0.301s
4 Begg +1.782s
5 McCormack +2.485s
6 Petch +4.271s
7 Potter +8.741s
8 Drake +8.761s
9 Toby Musico +8.976s
10 Diesel Thomas +9.093s
FL: McCormack, 1m12.429s

NZ FFord standings
1 Dowdall 923   2 Neale 792   3 McCormack 791   4 Penrose 719   5 Grant 670   6 Begg 640   7 Taylor 511   8 Fletcher 501   9 Petch 384   10 Owens 377

North Island FFord standings
1 McCormack 1461   2 Dowdall 1444   3 Groenewald 994   4 Grant 581   5 Reagan Edwards 559   6 Fletcher Sloan 534   7 Scott 492   8 Owens 391   9 Manson 381   10 Nick Buxeda 351

The post Dowdall laps up New Zealand FFord title at Manfeild finale appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Bruce Jenkins

M2 Competition’s Arvid Lindblad won a soaking wet final Formula Regional Oceania race at Manfeild.

The conditions were so bad that the safety car had to lead the field throuh the first four laps, and was doing so on the fifth too when red flags waved.

After a 20-minute break, and with no sign of rain in the sky, the race restarted behind the safety car again and with lap six kicking off proceedings. The field finally did a rolling start at racing speeds on lap eight, and the top two of Lindblad and team-mate Nikita Johnson immediately broke away while a train formed behind M2’s Sebastian Manson in third.

A lap later Kiwi Motorsport’s James Lawley spun off at the final corner and could not get restarted, leading to the safety car coming out on lap 11 as the sun began to shine.

Racing did not resume until lap 15, and MTEC Motorsport’s Patrick Heuzenroeder tapped the rear of Manson at turn one. That unsettled his car and allowed Heuzenroeder to get past into third, with Manson immediately trying to get back past but not finding any room.

The order of the top 10 was all but settled following that. Lindblad pulled away to take his fifth win of the season by 2.12 seconds, Heuzenroeder was 7.244s behind and Manson was 11.716s behind the winner.

From lap 21 to 23 there were attacks by Giles Motorsport’s Tommy Smith on M2’s Enzo Yeh for sixth, but he could not pressure him into a mistake, and Giles’ Barrett Wolfe had a big off at the final corner on lap 15 that included a trip through the gravel but he managed to rejoin the track without assistance.

Race results (27 laps)

The post Lindblad works through the wet to win again in FRegional Oceania appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Bruce Jenkins

Zack Scoular sliced into Arvid Lindblad’s Formula Regional Oceania points leads by winning the reversed-grid race at Manfeild.

The track was wet in many places for the start, and there was a mix of drivers on wet and slick tyres. Lindblad, from seventh on the grid, and several of his M2 Competition team-mates opted for slicks.

Giles Motorsport’s Alex Crosbie started on reversed-grid pole and despite a lot of wheelspin managed to lead into turn one. However MTEC Motorsport’s Scoular got on his inside and overtook him through the corner, as M2’s Sebastian Manson held third behind.

Nikita Johnson stormed up from sixth to fourth, but the M2 driver then got stuck in a battle with Giles’ Tommy Smith. They traded places three times in the lap, with Smith attempting to get back past Johnson again at the final corner but failing to do so while M2’s Michael Shin – who was on slick tyres – went off.

Shin remained the highest slick-shod runner in eighth, with MTEC’s Patrick Heuzenroeder down in 11th and Lindblad just behind him.

Although the track was drying as water was displaced, Scoular pushed hard on his wet-weather tyres and was two seconds clear after two laps. That became 5.5 seconds after four laps, then 7.3 and 9.4 over the course of the next two. He had a 14s gap at the front of the field when the race was neutralised on lap 12 due to a crash and the arrival of rain.

For the restart on lap 16 of 22, Scoular led Johnson, MTEC’s Josh Pierson and Nicholas Monteiro, and M2’s Matias Zagazeta, Lindblad and Shin.

Pierson had passed Smith for fifth on lap three, then on lap five Johnson had swept around the outside of Manson at turn one and Pierson had followed him past down the back straight.

Two laps later Monteiro went around the outside of Smith at the end of the back straight, and a wide moment for Crosbie at the final corner meant he lost second place. Pierson cleared Crosbie on lap nine, and Manson would have got through on lap 11 had Crosbie not spun and caught his car. At the start of the lap, both had been passed by Monteiro in one move. Manson retired with suspension damage, and Crosbie shed his nosecone but continued.

Heuzenroeder pitted for wet tyres during the safety car period, and the top four broke away on the restart while Lindblad caused a traffic jam and soon plummeted to 14th.

Scoular held off Johnson through the wet remaining laps, with Pierson and Monteiro a distant third and fourth. Yeh and MTEC’s Shawn Rashid rose to fifth and sixth on the road, ahead of Smith and Heuzenroeder. Lindblad finished 46.245s behind the winner in 14th, and had his championship lead drastically reduced.

Post-race, Monteiro and Rashid got five-second penalties that dropped them to fifth and eighth, and Nicolas Stati had a 10s penalty that demoted him one spot to 10th.

Race results (22 laps)

The post Scoular slices into Lindblad’s FRegional Oceania lead with Manfeild win appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Bruce Jenkins

Arvid Lindblad denied M2 Competition team-mate Nikita Johnson by a tiny margin in the fight to be fastest in Formula Regional Oceania’s wet second qualifying session at Manfeild.

Lindblad had the advantage over Johnson through their first five laps, then he opted for a cooldown lap while Johnson improved to 1m08.807s. That put him on provisional pole by 0.022 seconds ahead of MTEC Motorsport’s Patrick Heuzenroeder, who had been on top for the preceding two laps.

Heuzenroeder had a slower lap next time by, and Johnson found more pace. He set a 1m08.555s, but it was not enough for pole as Lindblad was 0.002 faster to claim his fifth pole from six attempts this season.

The top two both then set 1m08.6s, unable to improve, and Heuzenroeder was demoted to fourth by a 1m08.799s from M2’s Sebastian Manson.

Matias Zagazeta and Enzo Yeh made it five M2 drivers in the top six, although Yeh was 0.645s off pole while his team-mate was 0.348s slower than Lindblad.

Giles Motorsport’s series returnee Tommy Smith was just pipped to sixth by Yeh, with MTEC’s Zack Scoular and M2’s Michael Shin also closely matched in eighth and ninth. Scoular was one of only two drivers to improve after their eighth lap on track, the other being MTEC’s Josh Pierson who had an unerwhelming session and could only qualify 10th.

Everyone else was more than a second off the pace, and 14th down to 17th place were two seconds slower than Lindblad around the short lap as track conditions meant slower laptimes for all.

Qualifying results

The post Lindblad denies Johnson by tiny margin in wet FRegional Oceania Q2 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo; Bruce Jenkins

M2 Competition’s Arvid Lindblad took another dominant win in the opening Formula Regional Oceania race at Manfeild.

It was a lights-to-flag success for Lindblad ahead of team-mate Nikita Johnson, but there was drama for the team before the race began as Michael Shin copped a three-place grid penalty and had to line up in 14th.

Lindblad had it easy at the start, while Giles Motorsport’s series returnee Tommy Smith made a great launch from fourth and attempt to overtake Johnson for second on the inside of turn one.

Johnson kept the position at the corner exit, then later in the lap MTEC Motorsport’s Josh Pierson pushed Smith out of the way to reclaim third. His team-mate Patrick Heuzenroeder also then had the opportunity to pass Smith, with M2’s Sebastian Manson following him through.

Smith made a great move on Smith to gain back one spot, and as they headed into lap three there was already a gap of over a second between Johnson and the rest of the chasing pack.

Zack Scoular passed MTEC team-mate Nicholas Monteiro for eighth place on lap three, then the order settled.

Although Lindblad was untouchable, the short length of the Manfeild circuit meant it took six laps for him to build his lead over Johnson to more than a second. Pierson gradually gapped himself from Heuzenroeder too, and managed to close back in on Johnson as the 22-lap race approached its halfway point.

Once Johnson switched his attention to Pierson, it helped Lindblad pull two seconds clear and then even further up the road. By the finish, he was nearly six seconds ahead.

Smith also kept Heuzenroeder honest, but could not get past, although both moved ahead of Pierson after the finish as he copped a five-second penalty.

There was minimal overtaking after lap three, although Enzo Yeh dropped from 12th to 14th behind M2 team-mate Matias Zagazeta and MTEC’s Shawn Rashid on lap 19.

Race results (22 laps)

The post Lindblad dominates FRegional Oceania’s Manfeild opener appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Bruce Jenkins

Arvid Lindblad clinched pole for Formula Regional Oceania race one at Manfeild early in the first qualifying session of the weekend.

His fourth successive pole came courtesy of a 1m03.693s on his third flying lap, and he completed three more flyers but failed to improve thereon. He had anticipated it would not be an easy session.

Traffic was a limiting factor, and it was a similar story for the majority of the field as their personal best laptimes came early on. Those on cooldown laps then had to pull out of the way of their rivals who were still lapping at pace.

Of those who did improve their laptimes, only two actually changed their position after the 15-minute session’s halfway point.

It was an incredibly close fight for pole, with Lindblad clinching top spot by 0.112 seconds over M2 Competition team-mate Nikita Johnson.

MTEC Motorsport’s Josh Pierson was a further 0.053s behind, and four more drivers were within a third of a second of Lindblad including Giles Motorsport’s series returnee Tommy Smith. He will start his comeback race from fourth place.

The top 14 were covered by just 0.437s, with a tenth of a second between sixth and 13th, and Giles’ Barrett Wolfe was the only driver more than a second off pole.

One of the drivers to climb up the order was M2’s Sebastian Manson, who jumped from 12th to seventh with a few minutes to go. MTEC’s Zack Scoular then improved from 13th to 12th on the grid.

Qualifying results

The post Lindblad leads top 12 split by 0.4s in FRegional Oceania qualifying appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Bruce Jenkins

Arvid Lindblad was fastest in practice for the third round of the Formula Regional Oceania season at Manfeild on Friday.

There were three half-hour sessions, and in FP1 points leader Lindblad was the pacesetter. He managed to break the 1m04s barrier eight times, with his quickest lap coming five minutes from the end.

The M2 Competition driver had already been on top for a prolonged period with an early 1m03.587s benchmark, and he beat that by 0.007 seconds with his new personal best. In the end he set three laps that were good enough to put him P1 on the timesheet, with his closest rival Nicolas Stati leaving it until his last lap at the end to set a 1m03.753s.

Less than a tenth of a second behind the Kiwi Motorsport driver was Tommy Smith, who is replacing Australian Supercars champion Will Brown at Giles Motorsport for this round and the next. The 22-year-old Australian did three of the five rounds last season and claimed one podium, enough to put him eighth in the standings.

MTEC Motorsport duo Josh Pierson and Patrick Heuzenreoder were split by 0.01s in fourth and fifth, then Giles’ Alex Crosbie was the last of the drivers to lap sub-1m04s. The top 15 were covered by just 0.62s, and everyone ended up setting their fastest laps in FP1.

Stati was quickest in FP2, setting a 1m03.958s to pip Lindblad by 0.059s. M2’s Matias Zagazeta was 0.266s back in third, with a 0.004s gap to Smith and with Crosbie only a further 0.029s behind in fifth. This time 0.62s covered the top 13, and only Giles’ Barrett Wolfe was more than a second off the pace.

FP3 was the slowest session, and Stati was on top again. A 1m04.019s on his final lap put him 0.065s ahead of Smith, with Heuzenroeder and Crosbie 0.102s and 0.187s back. The gaps were also more spread out, with Lindblad down in 12th and 0.651s slower than Stati.

Free practice results

The post Lindblad on top in FRegional Oceania practice at Manfeild appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Geoff Ridder

The 2024 New Zealand Formula Ford season concluded this month with rounds at Manfeild and Taupo, where Blake Knowles became champion.

The top of the points table closed up when the paddock visited Manfeild on April 5-7, as Sebastian Manson won twice.

He topped practice first, then took pole by 0.022 seconds over Mason Potter and 0.031s over points leader Knowles. Dylan Grant and Toby McCormack were within 0.185s of pole too, while everyone else was more than half a second off the pace.

NZ FFord last raced at Manfeild before the COVID-19 pandemic, but drivers quickly figured out the many places they could go side-by-side.

Manson pipped Potter to victory by 0.35s in race one, but did lead every lap. Potter had fought with Grant early on, then set the fastest lap as he proved to be a thorn in Manson’s side. Grant finished third, Blake Dowdall was 11s behind in fourth and Knowles retired.

The gap between the top two was even closer in race two, as Manson triumphed by 0.113s over Potter in a late fight for victory. Knowles had been involved in the leading group in third place before the top two pulled away.

Potter avenged his two defeats by winning races three and four. Just 0.93s covered the top five at the finish of race three, with Potter leading Manson home by 0.172s. William Neale was a further 0.131s behind in third, Knowles was just 0.66s behind the winner in fourth and Grant was fifth.

Although Potter more comfortably won race four by 3.4s, there was still close battles behind with Manson missing out on the runner-up spot by 0.36s, Knowles finishing 0.099s behind him and Grant a further 0.38s back.

The results meant Knowles headed to Taupo two weeks later 24 points clear of Manson and 59 ahead of Neale. Potter, Grant and Izaak Fletcher made it a six-way title fight for the three-race round, which ended with the Ron Frost Memorial Trophy race.

Neale topped FP1 on Friday, setting a 1m36.388s to lead Potter by 0.045s. Zach Blincoe was third, but 0.834s behind. Manson lowered the pace to 1m34.739s in FP2, putting 0.255s between himself and Grant, and with Potter a further 0.214s slower in third.

Manson delivered under pressure in qualifying, improving to 1m34.126s to take pole by over a third of a second. Blincoe was second fastest, with less than 0.1s splitting Neale, Grant and Knowles in third to fifth.

Race one was the sole track activity of Saturday, and it was wet. Grant moved into second place early on but could not challenge Manson until late in the race and a pass was not possible. Neale and Knowles (now only one point ahead of winner Manson) finished third and fourth, and Potter was seventh after he had a penalty removed.

Sunday was sunny and Knowles moved nine points clear by winning race two after Manson and Neale had contact. Manson finished 0.404s behind the winner, while a 30s penalty restricted Neale to 15th place.

Neale won the finale, again battling Manson but only after they had pulled away significantly. After trading places several times, Neale was victorious by 0.178s. Finishing third made Knowles champion by two points, and Grant successfully defended his North Island FFord title in fourth place.

Results round-up

The post Blake Knowles wins 2024 New Zealand FFord title by a whisker at Taupo appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: TGR NZ

Roman Bilinski won a disrupted final Formula Regional Oceania race at Manfeild in difficult conditions to grow his points lead.

Intense rain in the closing stages of the race led to a number of cars spinning and the race was red flagged with four laps remaining, not to be restarted.

The early end meant a fourth win of the season for Bilinski, and second place for Christian Mansell in his final Oceania appearance.

Mansell got the better start from second on the grid, but Bilinski was just able to hold onto the race lead. The two were running together on the opening lap when Michael Shin and Nico Lacorte came together further back in the order. The pair both ran into the tyre barriers, and the safety car was called out.  

The race was red flagged so marshals could clear the incident. During the stoppage, the rain that had started shortly before the race start became heavier.

Racing restarted with 23 laps remaining. Bilinski was able to keep Mansell at bay on the restart and pulled out a gap of roughly 2.5 seconds. In the second half of the race, Mansell began to reel him in but Bilinski picked up the pace to keep Mansell a comfortable distance behind.

Tommy Smith and Gerrard Xie both suffered spins before race control made the decision to bring out the safety car again with six laps to go of the scheduled distance. With no signs of the rain stopping, the race was red flagged after lap 23.

Third place went the way of Liam Sceats, who set the fastest lap of the race. Sceats had passed Kaleb Ngatoa shortly after the first restart and closed in on Smith. The pair raced side-by-side, with Smith holding on around the outside to keep the final podium position. He was still running third when the spin allowed Sceats through.

Smith recovered to take fourth, ahead of Ngatoa and Patrick Woods-Toth. 

Alex Crosbie made a good start from 12th on the grid to be running seventh before the first restart, and held onto the position to the chequered flag. Titus Sherlock followed him through the order to take eighth, ahead of Jett Bowling and Elliott Cleary.

Race results (23 laps)

The post Bilinski victorious at Manfeild in disrupted third FRegional Oceania race appeared first on Formula Scout.