Roman Bilinski and Liam Sceats have doubled down in Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship qualifying at Ruapuna, with the championship leader claiming the pole for the Lady Wigram Trophy race ahead of his closest rival.
Just 0.026 separated the pair to the advantage of the Polish driver on the final lap with time up on the clock. Sceats was unable to improve on his 1:17.282, while Bilinski went two-tenths faster to break the 1:17 barrier.
Andretti Global’s Bryce Aron had a quiet start to the session but burst to life in the closing stages, jumping to third and falling just 0.068 seconds short of a front-row start.
Patrick Woods-Toth, who will start Race 2 on the front row, also relied on a late lap to secure a second-row start in the feature, provisionally jumping to third but quickly eclipsed by Aron.
Gerrard Xie sat in the top three for much of the session, only to be bettered by the two North Americans late on. His 1:17.350 was 0.076 seconds shy of a second-row start and 0.017 seconds ahead of Indy NXT star Jacob Abel.
Michael Shin was six-hundredths behind Abel and five-hundredths ahead of Alex Crosbie, who leapt into the top ten with his final circuit. Shin will start this afternoon’s Race 2 from the pole.
Jett Bowling, who continues to progress in pace, was 0.033 seconds off Crosbie in ninth, with Hampton Downs race winner Kaleb Ngatoa rounding out the top ten, 0.009 seconds off the American.
Less than three-tenths of a second separated positions four through ten.
Sebastian Manson, who will compete with Giles Motorsport in next weekend’s New Zealand Grand Prix at Highlands, having turned 16 on February 7, was a late addition to the grid, participating in Sunday’s qualifying session and two races. He will start the opening race from the rear of the field.
Manson completed 10 laps and qualified twelfth to start off the sixth row next to Titus Sherlock.
Kaden Probst qualified 14th and starts next to Landan Matriano Lim.
The reverse top-eight grid race from yesterday’s results starts at 1.02 pm, with the Lady Wigram Trophy to be challenged for at 4.28 pm. All coverage is being shown live on Sky Sport.
Lady Wigram Trophy race starting grid
| 1st | Roman Bilinski |
| 2nd | Liam Sceats |
| 3rd | Bryce Aron |
| 4th | Patrick Woods-Toth |
| 5th | Gerrard Xie |
| 6th | Jacob Abel |
| 7th | Michael Shin |
| 8th | Alex Crosbie |
| 9th | Jett Bowling |
| 10th | Kaleb Ngatoa |
| 11th | Titus Sherlock |
| 12th | Sebastian Manson |
| 13th | Landan Matriano Lim |
| 14th | Kaden Probst |
| 15th | Lucas Fecury |
| 16th | Jake Bonilla |
Header Image: Toyota Gazoo Racing (Bruce Jenkins)
