Jack Brabham. Stirling Moss. Chris Amon. Bruce McLaren. Liam Sceats.
The Auckland-based 18-year-old has added his name to New Zealand motorsport folklore with victory in the 68th running of the New Zealand Grand Prix, held at Highlands Motorsport Park this afternoon.
Sceats didn’t put a foot wrong all race, managing his pace at the front well over the early laps before slowly pulling to an insurmountable advantage mid-race.
Good race management and tyre preservation were the key for the #23 driver, who put together a complete package to lead from lights to flag off the back of a superb qualifying effort that secured the pole.
What the future holds following Grand Prix success remains to be seen, but there’s no doubt the performance will turn heads worldwide.
Second place for Callum Hedge was a fair result for the 2023 Porsche Carrera Cup Australia champion, who took the challenge to Sceats early but dropped into the grasps of impressive South Korean driver Michael Shin, holding off his multiple-lap challenge for the result less than three days after arriving back in the country.
For Shin, third was equally deserved, having started well and jumped to third in the early stages, keeping pace with the leaders before threatening for the second step late on.
“It’s unbelievable and I’m speechless,” Sceats said in his post-race interview. “I can’t even think right now. I can’t believe it.
“I have to credit M2 Competition for the car they gave me, and they made it so easy to drive.
“This back end of the season has been very strong, but I wasn’t strong enough for Roman. I have to give credit to him because he drove an awesome championship and I’ve loved going wheel-to-wheel with him all season.
“I’m really stoked. At the start of the season, I thought we were a little bit unlucky to not get some better results, but to come on strong at the end of the season makes it feel very sweet.
“I wouldn’t be here without my family, mum, dad and sister. I’m going to love sharing this moment with them. It’s been a long journey, all the loads of experience makes up for this very moment.”
Sceats was away well from pole, while front-row starter Hedge was forced to fend off challenges from fast-starters Gerrard Xie and Jacob Abel from the second row.
However, Xie’s Grand Prix prospects lasted as far as Turn r, as he was run wide through the sprawling hairpin to make light contact with the wall. Remarkably, he avoided significant damage and was able to return to pit lane, eventually returning to the track, albeit two laps down.
Xie’s incident allowed Kiwi rookie Alex Crosbie to move forward, and he leapt at the chance, jumping to fourth following a good start, behind Abel and ahead of Michael Shin, who had moved forward from seventh on the grid.
Sceats and Hedge put a slight gap over the field over the opening circuit, with the leader holding a one-second buffer.
Newly-crowned Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship winner Roman Bilinski immediately made an impact off Grid 13 following his qualifying crash, sitting eighth at the end of the first circuit.
Gravel on the track threw the field offline on Lap 2, and Crosbie was the biggest loser from this, dropping to sixth and ahead of a charging Bilinski, who had worked past Australian Elliott Cleary for seventh.
Sceat’s advantage sat at one second at the end of the dramatic second lap, with Shin’s contact with Abel allowing the front two to have built a 3-second advantage.
The 2023 Toyota Formula Regional Oceania runner-up reduced the gap by half on the following circuit, while Bilinski got through Crosbie to take sixth.
A rhythm finally set in over the following circuits, with Sceats holding a tight half-second advantage over Hedge. The margin would remain that until mid-race before M2 Competiton’s driver slowly began to creep clear.
Shin, meanwhile, remained three seconds off the lead pair and put a buffer over Abel, who in turn made ground over fifth-placed Bryce Aron. Bilinski had worked on the rear of Andretti Global’s Indy NXT recruit but struggled to find a way through.
With 10 laps to run, Sceats’s lead over Hedge was 1.2 seconds, with the 2024 champion still sixth and 7.5 seconds behind.
Hedge lost significant ground on Lap 20, dropping to 2.5 seconds behind his compatriot and into the clutches of Shin, who had driven admirably to maintain contact with the leaders and put over three seconds over fourth-placed Indy NXT star Abel.
At the end of Lap 22, Hedge was 3.7 seconds behind. A lap later, it was 4.2 seconds and with four laps to run, the Grand Prix was Sceats’s to lose.
He would get to the chequered flag 5.65 seconds ahead of Hedge, who was only four-tenths ahead of Shin. Abel drove well for fourth.
A frightening incident as cars collected the chequered flag saw Bilinski run into the back of Abel at speed, launching the championship winner’s car airborne over the top of the American’s.
Aron had hit the wall at the exit of the corner, leaving Bilinski with nowhere to go. Both drivers emerged OK from the wreckage.
Bilinski crossed the line in the air and was provisionally classified fifth, ahead of Aron, while Crosbie did well to avoid the incident for seventh, 0.001 seconds behind the American.
Ryder Quinn’s return to the series produced a credible 12th, ahead of the 2024 Rookie of the Year Patrick Woods-Toth and Cleary, who completed the top ten.
Sebastian Manson was home 12th, behind the ever-improving Jett Bowling.
Header Image: Toyota Gazoo Racing/ Bruce Jenkins
