Lindblad fastest as FR Oceania cars set blistering pace at Hampton Downs

Britain’s Arvid Lindblad set the standard once again in the 2025 Castrol Toyota FR Oceania championship with a record-breaking lap around Hampton Downs to snatch pole position for the first race.

Lindblad started slowly in the session but by the end was the man to beat and on his final flying lap left a time that was just too quick for the rest in a closely fought session.

Zack Scoular for mtec Motorsport and team mate Shawn Rashid posted the first quick laps but it was another mtec driver, Nicholas Monteiro, who went under the 1 minute 30 second mark first.

Scoular went into the 1 minute 28 second bracket next time around on his second flying lap as all of the drivers made the most of the fast conditions of the morning at the North Waikato circuit.

The leading lights from the previous days testing all then started to chase the top time and the third flying lap saw Scoular lower the mark yet again to 1 minute 28.496, with American Josh Pierson, Supercars champion Will Brown for Giles Motorsport, fellow Australian Patrick Heuzenroeder and Peru’s Matias Zagazeta all close behind.

Lindblad arrived at the top of the time sheets next time around and held top spot on a 1 minute 28.465 lap momentarily. Scoular and Pierson then bettered the Red Bull driver’s best – Scoular’s 1 minute 28.311 setting a new mark for the Toyota FT60’s fastest-ever lap of the circuit. Pierson then set another new mark at 1 minute 28.184 seconds, and all of a sudden, a sub 1 minute 28 second lap seemed possible.

It was that man Lindblad who got closest with a 1 minute 28.074 with just a minute and a half to go of the session, as Scoular and Pierson also continued to improve their best lap times. Scoular looked odds on to beat the 1-minute 28-second barrier on his final lap, but a small mistake left him just shy of that and rival Lindblad. Will Brown was just a tenth back in fourth as the cars on track surged into their final lap of the session – but there were to be no further changes to the order.

The top 13 of the field were covered by a remarkably low nine tenths of a second after a very exciting session around the 3.8km track.

Lindblad was delighted to maintain the form that had seen him leave the first round as championship leader and feature race winner.

“I didn’t do a good job in the early laps but the team gave me a really good car and I think we have made a good step forward from Taupo,” he said afterwards.

“I really enjoy this circuit although I’m not sure it’s more to my style or not. It’s really cool and there’s a really nice flow to it. It’s quite challenging with the bumps which is not something I’m really used to.”

Once the dust had settled, it was Lindblad on pole from Scoular, Pierson, Brown, Korea’s Michael Shin, Heuzenroeder, Zagazeta, Nikita Johnson, Sebastian Manson and Enzo Yeh who locked in the first five rows of the grid for the afternoon’s first race of the weekend.

CTFROC Round 2 Qualifying 1- Hampton Downs

Header Image: Neville Bailey