It may have been reduced to four rounds to avoid clashes with testing in the Northern hemisphere, but the 2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy will pack more punch than any other motorsport series or events running at the start of 2026.
The entry list is so good in fact, that it’s one that you would have to rub your eyes after reading and read again. And that’s testament to the New Zealand series’ position today as one of the world’s premier junior formula championships.
The most eye-catching entry in a talent-packed field, and one that will attract global interest, is that of two-time World Rally Champion Kalle Rovanperä.
Rovanperä will drive for a new team in the NZ championship, Hitech, but that team’s international reputation means they are likely to quickly understand the unique challenges and nuances of NZ’s diverse tracks. Chances are that Rovanperä will too.
With a season in Japan’s highly competitive Super Formula ahead of his New Zealand campaign, his is one of the most fascinating entries in more than two decades of a championship that has been a stepping stone for many, including the current F1 champion, Lando Norris.
It may seem odd to compare Rovanperä to Supercar star Ryan Wood, but they share more in common with each other than the entire rest of the grid. Neither has competed in a single-seater championship or even a single-seater race before, and both are acknowledged stars of other motorsport codes.
That, though, is where the similarity ends. Wood has never made a secret of his desire to test himself against the best on tracks he knows well.
Blessed with natural speed, there’s no reason to assume he won’t be able to demonstrate the same kind of pace shown in Toyota’s FT60 in recent seasons by fellow Supercar drivers Will Brown and Broc Feeney, and both Shane van Gisbergen and Matt Payne a few seasons ago.
Ryan couldn’t have picked a better year to do it, because this edition of the Castrol Toyota series is jam-packed with winners and champions from the international junior formula world.
Red Bull Juniors Fionn McLaughlin and Ernesto Rivera are both proven race winners, and McLaughlin is the current British F4 champion.
Rivera is part of M2 Competition’s line-up while McLaughlin will team up with Rovanperä at Hitech. Both head to FIA F3 in 2026, so their battle to be the top RB Junior will be a fascinating one and will almost certainly see them at the sharp end of the grid.
Jin Nakamura, who will be McLaughlin’s teammate in F3, is another massive name in CTFROT this season, Super Taikyu ST2 champion in Japan in 2024, and a winner already in Formula Regional, F4, and Super Formula Lights. Nakamura will be joined by another rising star from Japan, Kanato Le, and they will complete the four-car lineup for Hitech alongside Rovanperä and McLaughlin.
Brazil’s Ricardo Baptista is another race winner from F4 who joins the second of the new teams – TJ Speed with HMD Motorsport for the four-round championship.
Australian James Wharton is the team’s second driver and another rising star. He made his F2 debut over the Qatar GP weekend and brings further experience in F3, F4, and Formula Regional to his New Zealand campaign. They will be joined by late signing Skip Barber Trevor Latourrette.
Kiwis Zac Scoular and Louis Sharp should also feature at the front. Scoular was runner-up in NZ last season, winning races and taking the Rookie honours, and this time around is targeting the overall title.
Sharp is another big name in junior formula in Europe, and this will be the first time since Formula Ford that he has competed on his home tracks. Sebastian Manson, a race winner last season, is the fourth Kiwi in the field this season and will be hoping – as his compatriots will be – to mount a championship challenge.
Long-time series stalwarts Giles Motorsport have just two cars in their fold this time around, but both will be in the hands of quality drivers.
Nolan Allaer comes out of IndyNXT for his first New Zealand Championship, having proved himself in several highly competitive domestic USA single-seater categories. His teammate Jack Taylor, from Tasmania, was a star performer in the 2025 GB4 championship in Britain this past year, scoring two wins, two pole positions, four podiums, and three fastest laps during an impressive season.
Yevan David becomes the first Sri Lankan to compete in the championship after success in the 2025 Euroformula Open Championship. He races with Kiwi Motorsport in New Zealand as a prelude to joining the FIA F3 Championship with AIX.
His teammate at Kiwi will be the US Formula 4 champion and another rising star on the single-seater scene, Cooper Shipman. Nine wins on his way to the title mark him as one to watch in Aotearoa.
Macau Grand Prix winner Ugo Ugochukwu is another one to watch when the championship gets underway at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park this coming weekend. The New Yorker is set to compete in a second season of FIA Formula 3 – joining Campos Racing from Prema, with whom he competed in 2025, and is another with blinding speed and an impressive CV.
Mtec Motorsport’s Yuanpu Cui is yet another who could excel. He has recent experience in Formula Regional as well, having competed in six races in FR Middle East in 2024 and in four rounds of the FR European Championship with appearances at Hockenheim and Circuit de Catalunya. He heads to NZ on the back of his first season in GB3 in the United Kingdom.
Late entry Trevor LaTourette joins TJ Speed the HMD Motorsports, and whilst he admits he is in New Zealand to learn, he has gone well in the Skip Barber Formula 4 series in the USA and could spring a surprise or two.
Picking a winner is simply too difficult but the first weekend at Hampton Downs, which gets underway with Thursday collective testing, Friday practice and then qualifying and four races over the weekend – culminating in the Dorothy Smith Memorial Trophy feature racer – will certainly give a pointer to the form horses for one of the most intriguing championships in New Zealand single seater history since the great years of the Tasman Series in the 1960s.
2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy – Entry List
M2 Competition
- Freddie Slater (United Kingdom)
- Sebastian Manson (New Zealand)
- Ugo Ugochukwu (United States)
- Ernesto Rivera (Mexico)
Hitech
- Jin Nakamura (Japan)
- Kanato Le (Japan)
- Kalle Rovanperä (Finland)
- Fionn McLaughlin (Ireland)
TJ Speed with HMD Motorsports
- James Wharton (Australia)
- Ricardo Baptista (Brazil)
- Trevor LaTourette (United States)
Giles Motorsport
- Jack Taylor (Australia)
- Nolan Allaer (United States)
mtec Motorsport
- Yuanpu Cui (China)
- Zac Scoular (New Zealand)
- Louis Sharp (New Zealand)
- Ryan Wood (New Zealand)
Kiwi Motorsport
- Yevan David (Sri Lanka)
- Cooper Shipman (United States)
Qualifying and races will be livestreamed on the TGRNZ YouTube channel on the following links.
- Qualifying 1: https://www.youtube.com/live/Iey-Z99L2Ik?si=_X55deNiygWGGDLT
- Race 1: https://www.youtube.com/live/j1U-LYmP8LY?si=stbIC1EOCzFH-lQF
- Race2: https://www.youtube.com/live/w8R0Fyl0RFg?si=A9mrGM3WepxqtZ9o
- Qualifying 2: https://www.youtube.com/live/RlF-0HMxBZM?si=aS2E943GnPwbZj6-
- Race 3: https://www.youtube.com/live/cgim43uyztw?si=MpmSyhDwOPa9C9gl
- Race4: https://www.youtube.com/live/AqVKTWxseLw?si=-rlQSAPC2jdumZrF
Header Image: Bruce Jenkins
