It might be one of the most competitive international grids assembled in the 21 seasons of the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy – but it was local drivers on top in day one of the country’s top open wheel category.
Race wins by teenagers Louis Sharp and Zack Scoular highlighted a massive day of action at the Hampton Downs International, as a big crowd basked in bright summer sunshine at the NextGen NZ Championship.
The pair of CTFROT races were intense, with Sharp starting race one from second position before beating polesitter Ugu Ugochukwu into turn one at the start of the first race of 15 this year.
The pair then ran nose to tail for the remainder, with the 17-year-old New Zealander edging away to claim the first win of the year.
Japanese driver Kanato Le finished third, fending off a charging Ryan Wood in the closing stages.
In race two, a reverse top-8 of the first race finishing order, Zack Scoular made a flying start from the outside of the front row and beat polesitter Yevan David into the first turn – and was never headed from there.
His win completed a perfect day for Mtec, which claimed both of the races today.
Japanese driver Jin Nakamura finished second, with British young star Freddie Slater third.
Ryan Wood was fourth for the second time in two races in another racy performance.
Tomorrow will see two more races to complete the first of four CTFROT rounds this year; the first a sprint and the second the weekend’s feature race for the Dorothy Smith Cup.
Josh Bethune claimed the opening race in round two of the Bridgestone GR86 Championship, beating home Chris White and Zach Blincoe in the eight-lap sprint. The Toyotas will race twice more on Sunday.
Two massive grids of GTRNZ competitors put on a show in their opening races of the weekend.
Crawford Daytona Prototype racer John De Veth claimed the GTR1 and GTR2 opening sprint, finishing just under five seconds in front of Glenn Smith’s McLaren. In GTR3 and GTR4, Darryl Palmer and Matt Henney battled for the race lead with the former claiming victory within sight of the line.
In the NZ Porsche Racing Championship, Nicholas Cutfield beat home Regan Scoullar by just under 10 seconds, with Daniel Angus in third.
Action at the Hampton Downs International continues tomorrow (Sunday) at 8:30am with a free public pit lane walk – open to all NextGen NZ Ticketholders this weekend.
On-track action commences at 9:30am with CTFROT Qualifying, while F1 star Liam Lawson will be at the circuit in the afternoon.
Fans unable to make it to the circuit can watch on Sky Sport NZ from 11:15pm NZDT, or in Australia on Kayo Sports and Fox Sports from 9:15am AEDT.
All the racing action will also be available on the NextGen NZ Championship YouTube channel, as will CTFROC Qualifying at 9:30am, local time.
For more information, please visit www.nextgennz.co.nz
Header Image: Tayler Burke/Shots By TayB
