Bilinski wins Manfeild opener, Sceats third

Poland’s Roman Bilinski has extended his Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship lead with victory in the opening race at Manfeild.

M2 Competiton’s driver was unchallenged from the pole, taking the advantage into Turn 1 over Christian Mansell and never looking back.

An early issue for the Australian Giles Motorsport driver saw him lose ground and drop from second to tenth while undertaking a reset. Nicola Lacorte was the benefactor of this, jumping to second, although two seconds behind the leader at this point, where he would finish.

A defensive drive from Liam Sceats saw the Kiwi complete the podium, holding off a fierce race-long challenge from Kaleb Ngatoa to complete an M2 Competition sweep of the podium places.

Ngatoa was forced to settle for fourth ahead of Mansell, who picked his way back through the field for a commendable fifth.

Formula 3 driver Tommy Smith crossed the line sixth, ahead of Michael Shin, while Gerrard Xie will start Sunday’s opening race from pole after finishing eight. Patrick Woods-Toth and Alex Crosbie completed the top ten.

Kaden Probst overcame his qualifying crash to finish 13th, one place ahead of Titus Sherlock, who took contact early in proceedings and spun across the track.

Up front, Bilinski continued to extend his advantage until the end as rain and wind began to affect proceedings. His lead at the chequered flag was 3.652 seconds, with Lacorte setting the fastest lap on his way to second.

The Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship returns to action on Sunday, with qualifying beginning at 10.06 am, followed by the reverse-top-eight tace at 12.51 pm and the feature at 3.32 pm.

All action will be broadcast live on Sky Sport 5.

Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship Manfeild Race 1 Results

Header Image: Toyota Gazoo Racing (Bruce Jenkins)