The impressive grid lining up for the 2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy took to the track for the first time today, with three acclimatisation runs at the Hampton Downs International Motorsport Park.
With most of the running purely to get the drivers used to the cars and the circuits, the most impressive part of the day was how close the cars were, with the top ten and sometimes top 15 covered by a second or less.
Rarely have the times on the opening test been so close, and the highly anticipated 2026 championship is promising to be mega-competitive.
After two shakedown runs, the 19 drivers ran two practice sessions, with a practice-start session in between.
Fastest time of the day went to Kiwi Louis Sharp, who clocked a low 1 minute 30-second lap in the morning.
Hitech’s Jin Nakamura and M2 Competition’s Ugo Uguchokwu were strong throughout the day, with Nakamura quickest in the afternoon session.
Another Kiwi, Supercars superstar Ryan Wood, was impressive, completing both test sessions inside the top five. In the second session in the afternoon, he was third quickest, just four tenths off Nakamura’s fastest lap, backing up fourth fastest time in the morning around a circuit he knows well.
Two-time world rally champion Kalle Rovanpera settled into a Formula Regional car for the first time and progressed throughout the day, ending the first session just over a second off Sharp’s best. In the second session, he was even closer to the pace.
All of the weekend’s action – which begins officially on Friday and concludes with the Dorothy Smith Memorial Trophy feature race on Sunday – will be livestreamed on TGRNZ’s YouTube channel, and all races will be live on Sky Sport NZ. Tickets to come along to the race weekend are still available at https://nextgennz.flicket.co.nz
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
Test Session 1 Results:
Test Session 2 Results:
Header Image: Joel Hanks
