Arvid Lindblad continued his strong run of form at Hampton Downs, winning the Dorothy Smith Memorial Cup feature race to extend his lead in the 2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Formula Regional Oceania Championship.
Having earlier qualified on pole, Lindblad was once again challenged off the line by fast-starting Kiwi Zack Scoular before slowly pulling clear and managing his advantage over the field for his second feature race victory in as many attempts.
“The start was a bit difficult, and it was a bit hairy in turn one,” said the Red Bull junior.
“The first two laps were tricky but I then settled into a nice rhythm and started to build the gap. It wasn’t easy as the gap was small, and any mistake I made would have let Zack in. So it was pretty tough. I’m here to win races, though, so I’m happy with the result.
To top off his strong performance, Lindblad’s best lap, a 1:28.340 flyer, stands as a new lap record on the Hampton Downs International Circuit.
Scoular had done well off the start and ran side-by-side with Lindblad through Turn 1, the two coming close to contact before the British national edged ahead.
Indy NXT competitor Josh Pierson ran in third early but was quickly pressured by Will Brown, the Supercars champion working his way past at Turn 2 on Lap 2 for the position.
Brown quickly caught the two leaders and piled the pressure on Scoular from Lap 4, but also had Pierson right behind, followed by Nikita Johnson Matias Zagazeta, Patrick Heuzenroeder, Michael Shin, and Race 2 winner Sebastian Manson.
Lindblad first went under the lap record on Lap 6 as he went about etching out his advantage, his 1-minute 28.744-second flyer the new benchmark.
Scoular responded two tours later, resetting the record at 1 minute 28.484. Brown then went faster on Lap 9, at 1 minute 28.469, to keep the pressure on towards the front.
Brown, however, came unstuck on Lap 11, spinning out at Turn 1 and tumbling down to eighth, with Pierson moving into the podium position.
At the halfway mark, Lindblad’s advantage sat at 1.3 seconds over Scoular, with Pierson seconds behind in third ahead of Johnson, Zagazeta, Heuzenroeder, Michael Shin, Brown and Shawn Rashid, who had worked his way past Manson.
Brown piled the pressure on Shin for seventh through the closing laps, but the South Korean held firm for the position.
Up front, Lindblad continued his strong pace, once again breaking the lap record at 1:28.340 on his way to a comfortable 2.9-second victory over Scoular,
Pierson completed the podium, while fourth place for Johnson elevates him to third in the standings, just ahead of his podium-placing compatriot.
Zagazeta was fifth ahead of Heuzenroeder, Shin, Brown, Rashid and Manson, who completed the top ten.
The Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship returns next weekend at Manfeild.
Header Image: Bruce Jenkins (Toyota Gazoo Racing)
