Lindblad and Stati all set for weekend duel at Manfeild

Championship leader Arvid Lindblad and in-form Nicolas Stati could be all set for a big duel throughout the weekend at the third round of the Castrol Toyota FR Oceania Championship at Manfeild – Circuit Chris Amon.

Lindblad once again stamped his authority on proceedings early on as the session times tumbled deep into the 1 minute 3 second bracket in the first of the day’s three practice sessions. He stayed top, but Stati was the man to beat in the day’s other two sessions.

That first session provided several areas of interest. M2 Competition’s Lindblad had a gap of just under two tenths on the rest – a formidable pace on his Manfeild – Circuit Chris Amon debut, but behind him Australian Nicolas Stati was able to maintain the promising pace he showed in Thursday testing for Kiwi Motorsport and go second quickest.

And with Australia Day fast approaching, the three Antipodeans in this weekend’s Castrol Toyota FR Oceania event all had cause to celebrate – with all three in the top five for the session.

Tommy Smith was third quickest on his return to the championship, revelling in it all and back in a car and at a track where he scored an impressive podium in 2024. Patrick Heuzenroeder also went well to go fifth, just four tenths off Lindblad.

In fourth was Josh Pierson for mtec while Alex Crosbie continued his run of ever-improving form to go sixth for Giles Motorsport and the last man under the 1 minute 4 second marker.

Also of note was the improved pace of mtec’s Zack Scoular in the session. The Kiwi, currently sitting second overall in the points, struggled for pace in the Thursday tests but was immediately fast today, and for a lot of the session was near the top of the times. He finished up eighth just two one thousandths of a second behind Nikita Johnson. Matias Zagazeta and Shawn Rashid completed the morning’s top ten.

It was Lindblad on top again for much of the second session – run in much warmer and slower conditions at the Manawatu, North Island circuit.  That was before Stati unleashed his best to go first and really prove he has the pace this weekend to go well and make a good step up from his current 14^th place in the points standings.

Matias Zagazeta was back to the form he showed in round one and took third fastest time, with Smith once again in the picture with fourth fastest. Crosbie went one place better than the first session for fifth, with Heuzenroeder, Pierson, Manson, Jett Bowling and Johnson next up.

Stati was fastest in the third and final session of the day, with Lindblad outside of the top ten after staying on older tyres.

Australians made it a 1-2-3 for the session too, with Smith four hundredths ahead of Heuzenroeder in second and third respectively. Crosbie improved again to go fourth, followed by Johnson and Pierson who completed a consistent day in the top ten.

Enzo Yeh’s new tyre run in his M2 Competition car gave the Chinese F4 champion seventh while Sebastian Manson – who had topped the times for the first 15 minutes – slipped down to eighth. Scoular was back in the top ten and closer to the outright pace in ninth while Zagazeta rounded out the top ten.

Action for race weekend begins on Saturday morning with a 15 minute qualifying session to determine the grid for the first race later in the day.

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