Laurens van Hoepen claims shock New Zealand Grand Prix pole

Dutch driver Laurens van Hoepen has launched himself onto the scene to take pole for tomorrow’s New Zealand Grand Prix. The 17-year-old showed pace beyond his age to top all three phases of knockout qualifying and announce himself as a serious contender for tomorrow’s event.

He’ll have to contend with the pace of Louis Foster off the front row with just .044 of a second the gap, seeing the Brit fall just short of pole. The youngster left it late in Q3 to string a lap together, managing to do so in the later half of the session and continuing to improve at the front end of the field.

Local hope Kaleb Ngatoa was on the pace all session, falling agonisingly short of repeating his 2021 pole. He’s still showing incredible pace and will be one to watch all weekend. He’s the top Kiwi qualifier for the event, one spot ahead of Callum Hedge who continues to pressure series leader Charlie Wurz, who himself could only manage fifth.

Liam Sceats ensured there were three Kiwis in the top eight shootout and will start sixth ahead of Americans Jacob Abel and David Morales who lock out the fourth row.

Sceats continues to improve as the competition continues, continually putting himself at the top end of the field. He looked set for a solid qualifying result today and led with two minutes remaining but was toppled from his perch late in the session.

Chris van der Drift will be relying on race pace as he starts from ninth, falling just .018 of a second short of making it through to Q3.

Brendon Leitch suffered a similar fate, a late off jeopardising his final flyer. He’ll start from 13th.

Both van der Drift and Leitch will still be seen as contenders come race time, their respective experience sure to come into play come green flag.

Last week’s feature winner James Penrose will be disappointed with 15th, falling one spot short of Q2. He has, however, shown incredible race pace of late and will be tipped to improve on this in each race.

The same can be said for fellow Kiwi hope Billy Frazer who will start 18th. A difficult session for Frazer sees him near the rear, however he’ll also be one to watch as he charges forward.

Breanna Morris rounds out the grid with 19th as she continues to build in experience and confidence, reflected in her consistency of times lap-by-lap.

A mixed grid is sure to create some challenges for the field tomorrow, offering an insight to a New Zealand Grand Prix full of top talent from around the world.

Before that, however, two shorter races need to be run. The first of those is at 2.58pm today with the second at 1pm tomorrow.

Race 1’s grid will go off Q1’s qualifying results, van Hoepen also starting on pole for that alongside Ngatoa.

Racing is live on Sky Sport 5 (055). You can view everything you need to know about this weekend’s event here.

2023 New Zealand Grand Prix Starting Grid

Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Race 1 Starting Grid

Header Image: Formula Regional Europe