Britain’s Arvid Lindblad is in New Zealand to gather Super Licence points for a potential F1 appearance sooner rather than later, and he’s already the leading contender for the maximum available.
The M2 Competition driver has proven to be the class of the field so far in the 2025 Castrol Toyota FR Oceania Championship, and with three wins so far from six races, he’s taken a comfortable series lead as the international championship heads to Manfeild – Circuit Chris Amon this weekend.
It’s not been plain sailing for the Red Bull Junior however, and he’s been open and honest that some of the races have been very difficult with his chosen car set up. But having a car he’s not entirely happy with doesn’t seem to have hindered his blinding speed – which was good enough to set a blistering new lap record around the Hampton Downs international track. And that was a lap time quicker than anyone who has driven a Toyota FT60 around the 3.8km track since it was introduced as the championship’s spec car way back in 2020.
As the clock ticks down towards round three of this year’s championship, it’s hard to look past Lindblad being the pace setter this weekend in Feilding, but – again – the path to victory will not be easy.
There have been three other race winners so far in the two rounds – Kiwi revelation Zack Scoular, Peruvian ace Matias Zagazeta and Sebastian Manson – who bagged his first win in Sunday morning’s reverse top eight format grid.
Manfeild offers its own particular challenges and circuit knowledge will be as important here as anywhere on the CTFROC calendar and that just might play into the hands of drivers like Manson, Korea’s Michael Shin in his M2 entry and US talent Jett Bowling in his Kiwi Motorsport car.
Rising US stars Josh Pierson and Nikita Johnson have also impressed and shown plenty of speed. A good result early on at Manfeild for either could trigger a strong second half to the championship. Expect both to be podium contenders at least.
Two drivers who improve with every session are mtec Motorsport’s Australian Patrick Heuzenroeder and another American Shawn Rashid. Heuzenroeder has the speed to podium and is a consistent runner in the top ten – as is Rashid now – but Rashid’s best chance of a win perhaps lies in the reverse grid race that takes place on Sunday morning.
With Will Brown having completed two of his three rounds of the championship, the series welcomes back old hand Tommy Smith for two rounds with Giles Motorsport. Smith has plenty of speed and is easily fast enough and experienced enough to be on the pace from the word go. A likely top five runner and an outside bet for a podium anywhere.
Enzo Yeh and Alex Crosbie have shown flashes of form – but it is fair to say that both will be looking for more consistency with that pace this weekend, as will Australia’s Nicolas Stati and Brazil’s Nicholas Monteiro. Canadian James Lawley and American Barret Wolfe complete this weekend’s field.
Header Image: Neville Bailey
