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: 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: Toyota Gazoo Racing NZ

Formula Regional Oceania points leader Arvid Lindblad won the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy, the third race of round one at Taupo.

Although he had pole, Lindblad had to start from the grid’s dirtier side and was beaten off the line by M2 Competition team-mate Matias Zagazeta. But Lindblad went for the outisde line at turn one, which became the inside for turn two. They were then side-by-side through turn three, and Lindblad got back ahead.

Zagazeta attempted to reclaim the lead around the outside of the turn five hairpin, as behind them MTEC Motorsport’s Josh Pierson was shuffled down to seventh from fourth. Ahead of him was team-mate Zack Scoular, M2’s Michael Shin, Giles Motorsport’s Will Brown and MTEC’s Patrick Heuzenroeder.

Brown tried to get down the inside of Shin down the back straight on lap one but could not do it, then on lap three tried the same and this time they made contact. Shin was sent into a spin and dropped to 10th, and Heuzenroeder passed Brown.

Pierson got past Brown around the outside when they reached turn one, then Brown almost drove into the back of him down the back straight and tried getting back past. Enzo Yeh went off on the next lap so team-mate Shin rose to ninth, then he cleared MTEC’s Shawn Rashid on lap six.

Lindblad eventually put a second between himself and Zagazeta on lap eight, and thereon continued to pull away to win the 23-lap race by 5.325 seconds.

“I made my life difficult. It’s not easy to start on the inside here,” said Lindblad afterwards, who was managing his tyres from the beginning due to thermal degradation. “I was very committed when I saw I lost the lead that I had to get it back in turn one. Because I’ve learned already in the previous two races that it’s incredibly difficult to pass here. Happy that I got it done in T1, and then was just controlling the pace from there.”

Brown was the only driver who could match Lindblad’s pace, but had work to do. He got side-by-side with Pierson down the back straight on lap nine but the latter cannily stayed ahead, only for Brown to throw his car around the outside at the final corner. M2’s Nikita Johnson followed him through at turn one.

A few laps later Brown was all over Heuzenroeder, but he spent a long time behind him. On lap 18 they had side-by-side moment mid-lap before Brown made a switchback move at the turn 11 hairpin. They had been right behind Scoular too, but the pass enabled him to break free of them again.

Brown soon rectified that by setting the fastest lap, and forced Scoular into defending through the penultimate lap. He tried the outside of turn one on the final lap and almost touched him at turn 11 too, but was stuck behind and with a 10s penalty for the contact with Shin it meant he finished behind him in eighth.

Race results (23 laps)

The post FRegional Oceania leader Lindblad wins Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing NZ

M2 Competition’s Matias Zagazeta won Formula Regional Oceania’s reversed-grid race at Taupo.

Much of the race’s drama occurred in the opening moments, with MTEC Motorsport’s Josh Pierson slow off the line from pole and almost being hit by M2’s fast-starting Michael Shin. After putting two wheels into the grass, Shin made it to turn one but then had to go wide at turn two and dropped to sixth.

Zagazeta went from fourth into the lead, ahead of team-mate and front-row starter Enzo Yeh, with Pierson third ahead of M2’s Arvid Lindblad. Furrther back, Kiwi Motorsport’s Nicolas Stati struck trouble and was going slowly, while Giles Motorsport’s Alex Crosbie spun and Jett Bowling (Kiwi) had to take avoiding action.

Yeh, the only driver on fresh tyres, was all over Zagazeta through the rest of lap one but had a five-second penalty for jumping the start.

Zagazeta had two thirds of a second in hand over Yeh after three laps, but then his chaser set the fastest lap. The same swing occurred on lap six, followed by Yeh setting another fastest lap next time by, and he brought the gap down to 0.357s after lowering the pace further on lap nine of 18.

Two laps later there was half a second between them again, and Zagazeta pulled away further after Yeh had a huge lock-up going into the final chicane on lap 13. He pushed hard in the remaining laps to close back to within 0.37s of Zagazeta, enough to earn him fourth place.

“It’s a very good result. Had a really good start, and from then onwards was struggling a lot with the tyres. Enzo behind had really good tyres, and I knew he had a penalty but I still wanted to win on-track. It was pretty fun, very cool,” commented Zagazeta afterwards. “The car feels fantastic. I’m feeling super confident for the afternoon.”

Pierson inherited second after a lengthy defence against Lindblad. A third of the way through the race they began to be gapped by the top two, and Pierson had to cover off his pursuer at turn one on lap seven. Lindblad launched another attack at the turn 11 hairpin, then drew alongside down the back straight but could not make anything of it.

A sideways moment and lock-up for Lindblad and briefly holding fastest lap meant Pierson broke away slightly, but Lindblad then set the fastest lap to close back in.

He was pressuring again by lap 14, and a lap later attempted moves at each of the first three corners but was unsuccessful. Now a six-car queue had formed, and Pierson locked up at the hairpin on the penultimate lap. Nobody had the tyre life to overtake though, and he held on ahead of new points leader Lindblad.

“[Standing starts is] something I’m not used to,” said Pierson. “It was tough to keep [Lindblad] behind. He was really quick.”

Nikita Johnson resisted team-mate Shin, who held the fastest lap at race-end, for fifth place.

Race results (18 laps)

The post Zagazeta wins reversed-grid FRegional Oceania race at Taupo appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing NZ

Arvid Lindblad was fastest in the second Formula Regional Oceania qualifying session at Taupo, but ended it still seeking more pace.

The Red Bull junior and M2 Competition driver qualified fourth and finished third in race one on Saturday, and began Q2 on Sunday morning in one of several packs of cars that formed as drivers went around the track slowly.

There was an expectation that it would take a few laps for tyres to reach their peak performance window, and that they would then move beyond it pretty quickly after. That made timing push laps crucial, since traffic could prevent a shot at pole.

MTEC Motorsport’s Shawn Rashid was fastest at first, then Giles Motorsport’s Will Brown demoted him to second. Brown set a 1m23.843s, and M2’s Michael Shin got within 0.048 seconds of it as MTEC’s Patrick Heuzenroeder went fifth and Lindblad’s first flying lap provisionally put him in fifth.

Later to cross the line were MTEC’s Zack Scoular and M2’s Nikita Johnson, with the former beating Brown by 0.019s then Johnson going 0.174s faster than him. M2’s Matias Zagazeta jumped to fifth after finding clear air, leaving Lindblad down in ninth.

The second flying laps came in the second half of the 15-minute session, and Brown improved to 1m23.589s to reclaim top spot. He was soon down in sixth though.

Zagazeta lowered the pace to 1m23.128s, leading Lindblad by 0.085s, Scoular by 0.104s and Shin by 0.148s. Johnson also beat Brown, and after finding a gap on track MTEC’s Josh Pierson did too.

Cooldown laps for all followed, with half of the field then returning to full pace on the lap after. That only proved beneficial to two drivers, as Brown improved by 0.158s and team-mate Alex Crosbie gained in 13th place.

With less than two-and-a-half minutes to go Pierson utilised space again to go fourth fastest, then with 23s left on the clock Lindblad took pole from Zagazeta by 0.089s.

Pierson pitted, several other pole contenders were a few tenths of a second slower than the best laps, and there were no changes in the top 10 after the chequered flag.

“Definitely a big step forward. I still feel we can make another step, but I was a lot happier than yesterday,” said Lindblad afterwards.

“I wasn’t super comfortable in the beginning, on the first sort of lap or two, and I kind of just accepted what I have underneath me is what I’ve got. And I really tried to adapt and do what I could to extract the laptime. So the lap was decent, but it wasn’t super easy.”

Qualifying results

The post Lindblad takes FRegional Oceania pole, but still looking for more pace appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing NZ

MTEC Motorsport’s Zack Scoular successfully converted his maiden single-seater pole position into victory in the Formula Regional Oceania season opener at Taupo.

It was very windy as the field embarked on the formation lap, and once returning to the grid they had a five-minute wait as the starting lights’s functionality were checked out. Another formation lap then followed, and despite being on the dirty side of the track a great start was made by Scoular and he led into turn one.

Arvid Lindblad immediately passed M2 Competition team-mate Nikita Johnson for third and tried going around the outside of Giles Motorsport’s Will Brown at turn one. He kept his nose alongside before tucking in behind at turn two.

Scoular ended lap one with a lead of a second to Brown, who remained under attack from Lindblad. On lap three his focus moved onto Scoular ahead, and he had brought the gap down to 0.715 seconds by lap five. But he could get no closer, and while Lindblad remained in his mirrors the leader was able to pull away and win by 2.069s.

“I’m honestly lost for words. First win in single-seaters, and what a grid to do it on. To do it in my home country, it’s honestly a pleasure. It’s so cool,” said an excited Scoular afterwards.

“We got a good launch, and then we were just doing quali lap, quali lap, quali lap. I expected there to be more deg[radation], but the tyre just stayed the whole race pretty much and didnt’ really feel like it affected me too much.”

Reigning Australian Supercars champion and single-seater returnee Brown, who was using Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson’s helmet, was as thrilled to finish second.

“It’s just cool to be back out there in an open-wheeler,” he beamed. “I’ve got to learn not to lock up. I was trying not to, but I kept doing it. I wasn’t sure what the tyre deg would be like; we had a fair bit in practice and surprisingly then it wasn’t too bad. So I’m pretty happy with the car overall, I think we had a really competitive car and it’s cool to be on the podium.”

Johnson began to pressure Lindblad late on, and their team-mates Matias Zagazeta, Michael Shin and Enzo Yeh ran in formation further behind.

The David Brabham-mentored Patrick Heuzenroeder was pushed wide at the opening corner of the race, dropping from sixth to last, but was back up to 12th on lap three thanks to a diving move at the chicane. He forced MTEC team-mate Nicholas Monteiro into mistakes before passing him at turn one on lap six, cleared Giles’ Alex Crosbie on lap nine then hunted down M2’s Sebastian Manson and got by him on lap 14.

Although he then cleared Josh Pierson, his team-mate moved back past on the final lap to finish eighth. Shawn Rashid, another MTEC driver, was 14th after stalling at the start.

Race results (17 laps)

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Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing NZ

MTEC Motorsport’s Zack Scoular pipped Giles Motorsport’s Will Brown by 0.078 seconds to claim pole in the first qualifying session of the Formula Regional Oceania season at Taupo.

There was drama early in Q1, with red flags waving one-and-a-half minutes into the 15-minute session and MTEC’s Patrick Heuzenroeder not joining the rush to get back on track when green flags waved again after a break of several minutes.

The first laptimes to be set were not at a representative pace, and MTEC’s Josh Pierson led the way in clean air with his first two laps. It was only six-and-a-half minutes in did flying laps actually get set, and Pierson posted a 1m24.336s.

That was soon beaten by Scoular’s 1m24.257s, and Brown squeezed between them with a 1m24.323s.

M2 Competition’s Matias Zagazeta went fourth fastest with a 1m24.483s, with team-mates Michael Shin and Arvid Lindblad also putting in sub-1m25s laps. The pair were soon beaten by MTEC’s Nicholas Monteiro, with a second covering the top nine at the session’s halfway mark.

Pierson improved to 1m24.178s next time by to briefly reclaim top spot, but Lindblad bettered him by 0.081s. Shin then pipped Lindblad by 0.006s, and when Zagazeta crossed the line he went 0.248s faster than him.

Scoular and Brown were shuffled down to fifth and seventh, but then jumped back up to first and second once they completed their flying laps. A 1m23.616s from Scoular would ultimately stand as the session’s fastest lap, and Brown’s effort kept him in second place until the end.

Running in clean air behind the rest of the pack was M2’s Nikita Johnson, and he used that to his benefit to go seventh fastest and then third – 0.177s off pole – as nobody else in the top 11 improved on their next lap.

His team-mate Sebastian Manson set a 1m24.755s to climb to 11th in the final four minutes, then Giles’ Alex Crosbie jumped two spots to 10th with 45s left on the clock and was just over a second slower than Scoular’s benchmark.

Johnson’s strategy somewhat backfired as he ended up being the first driver to meet the chequered flag, and moments before that MTEC’s Shawn Rashid jumped from 14th to 10th.

Lindblad made an improvement of a quarter of a second on his final lap and qualified fourth, as Heuzenroeder finally joined the rest of the field on track and completed an outlap in time to have one go at a flying lap. He shot up so sixth place with that single effort.

With nobody able to beat Scoular, it meant the Dubai-based driver claimed the first pole of his single-seater career.

Qualifying results

The post Scoular pips Brown to first pole of FRegional Oceania season appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: TGR NZ

Nikita Johnson led an M2 Competition 1-2-3 in free practice for the opening Formula Regional Oceania round at Taupo.

All but one of the 17 drivers taking part set their fastest laps in FP1 on Friday morning, with Johnson pipping team-mate Arvid Lindblad to top spot by 0.031 seconds.

Michael Shin was 0.374s behind in third, and Giles Motorsport’s single-seater returnee Will Brown was best of the rest in fourth and 0.468s off the pace. The top 10 were covered by a second, with Giles’ Barrett Wolfe and MTEC Motorsport’s Shawn Rashid both more than two seconds slower than Johnson at the bottom of the timesheet.

Rashid was able to improve in FP2, going second fastest in the session but only rising to 15th overall in the combined classification. Lindblad set a 1m24.428s to deny Rashid top spot by 0.021s, and MTEC’s Josh Pierson trailed by 0.385s in third. Despite the slower pace, the field was close again with M2’s Enzo Yeh in 12th just 0.932s slower than Lindblad.

Johnson and MTEC’s Nicholas Monteiro both completed less than 10 laps, but it was Pierson who did the least running overall. He went third fastest in FP3, as Johnson and Lindblad filled the top two spots again. A 1m23.525s put Johnson in first place, 0.225s aheas of Lindblad and 0.446s clear of Pierson – who was ninth fastest overall.

Brown was 0.504s off Johnson’s pace in fourth, Shin was fifth and M2’s Sebastian Manson was sixth.

Patrick Heuzenroeder did the most running over the three sessions, and ended practice as the fifth fastest driver and the quickest in MTEC’s line-up.

Free practice results

The post Nikita Johnson leads M2 1-2-3 in FRegional Oceania practice appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: TGR NZ

Josh Pierson was fastest in pre-event testing for the Formula Regional Oceania season opener at Taupo on Thursday.

The 17-car entry list was split into two groups in the morning, with each getting a 20-minute test session, then later in the day the paddock combined for two half-hour sessions.

M2 Competition’s Arvid Lindblad was comfortably quickest in Group A, setting a 1m23.816s late on to put himself 0.632 seconds ahead of team-mate Matias Zagazeta in second place. MTEC Motorsport’s Patrick Heuzenroeder was a further 0.158s behind, with nobody else within a second of Lindblad.

The pace was slower in Group B, as Giles Motorsport’s Will Brown – the reigning Australian Supercars champion – posted a 1m24.117s to lead M2’s Michael Shin by 0.447s. Enzo Yeh, another of M2’s drivers, was 0.879s slower than Brown in third, and close behind Yeh were MTEC’s Pierson, M2’s slicks-and-wings newcomer Sebastian Manson and MTEC’s Nicholas Monteiro.

Brown was quickest again in the first of the combined test sessions, with a 1m24.003s putting him just 0.188s ahead of Lindblad. Shin was 0.248s off Brown in third and Heuzenroeder trailed by 0.351s in fourth. Pierson and Zagazeta completed the top six.

Nine drivers set their personal best laptimes in the final test session, and Ed Carpenter Racing junior Pierson leaped to the top. A 1m23.389s made him the fastest of the afternoon by 0.441s, and fastest overall by 0.427s as he beat Lindblad’s earlier benchmark.

MTEC’s Zack Scoular also broke the 1m24s barrier to go fourth fastest overall, ahead of Brown and Shin. Zagazeta improved but was a second off the pace in sixth place, and Lindblad was 1.154s slower than Pierson but second overall due to his morning pace.

Test results

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