A fantastic start for Arvid Lindblad was the foundation for a fine victory in the first race of the weekend at Hampton Downs for the second round of the 2025 Castrol Toyota FR Oceania Championship – but he was far from comfortable throughout the 18 lap race.
Lindblad made almost the perfect getaway from pole position and as soon as the second corner had a lead of several car lengths.
It looked like he would win the race at a canter but that was the biggest his lead ever got and as the race progressed he looked far from comfortable as he fended off Kiwi Zack Scoular and Supercars champion Will Brown – who remained too close for comfort for the leader throughout.
Lindblad was relieved to win. “It was not an easy race, and it was quite long given how I felt in the car,” he explained on the podium, confirming his second win in a row was far from straightforward.
“I knew it would be difficult from lap two or three and I wasn’t very happy but I had to adapt and make the most of the car underneath me. I was struggling and it wasn’t easy in the car.”
Scoular and Brown raced throughout in full attack mode, staying within tenths of the leader and swapping lap records as they fought for an opportunity to attempt a pass. Zack stuck his nose alongside Lindblad a couple of times – or at least tried – but the rising British star showed his class to take the flag first and extend his championship lead. Brown too, mounted attack after attack in Zack’s direction but couldn’t force the Kiwi into any kind of meaningful mistake, which was really the only way he was going to get past given the pace of the mtec driver.
In a really fast race, the lap record was re-set several times and it ultimately went the way of fourth-placed finisher Josh Pierson – the US star looking strong throughout the race although he did lose a little bit of time to the top three on the final couple of laps. The IndyNXT driver – also the youngest driver to ever start the Le Mans 24 Hour race – left the mark at a stunning 1 minute 28.793 seconds.
Further back in fifth was Patrick Heuzenroeder for mtec never quite on the pace of the lead four, he nevertheless had his work cut out in the early part of the race before ending up ahead of the pack behind him but too far behind the leaders to mount a challenge.
In a fine sixth – his best performance of the championship so far – was the ever-improving Shawn Rashid, who held off Sebastian Manson for the place despite a race-long presence in his mirrors by the Kiwi. Manson made the most of a busy mid-field in the early laps to work his way through to seventh from ninth on the grid but that was where his progress ended.
Nikita Johnson bagged another top ten result in eighth, elevated after Michael Shin fell back mid-race from an initial sixth place. He was lucky to bring his car home ninth, as a spin at turn 7 resulted in M2 Competition’s Matias Zagazeta making contact and losing his front wing. Shin was able to resume, but Matias was forced to pit for a new nose and came home last, and that cost him his second placed spot in the championship points. The third New Zealander in the race, Invercargill’s Alex Crosbie, completed the top tern.
Johnson will start the Sunday morning reverse top eight race from pole position, giving him his best chance of victory so far ion this year’s tightly matched championship, with Manson alongside on the front row.
