Young drivers from 2024’s junior single seater scene locked out the top three places in the first test session on Thursday at the Hampton Downs International Motorsport Park, venue for the second round of the 2025 Castrol Toyota FR Oceania Championship.
In the second session, an impressive late effort by series leader and round one feature race winner Arvid Lindblad netted the Red Bull M2 Competition racer the fastest time of the day.
Josh Pierson, Patrick Heuzenroeder in their mtec Motorsport Toyota FT60s, and Nikita Johnson for M2 Competition took first, second and third in the morning session respectively to edge out Lindblad.
Finding their feet in New Zealand and in a new category and on new circuits, Pierson, Heuzenroeder and Johnson all have solid credentials for doing well in Formula Regional.
American Pierson competed in the IndyNXT Championship in 2024 – his first full year in the series – with a best result of seventh amongst six top ten results. Australian Heuzenroeder, meanwhile, was a rising star in GB3 in 2024, establishing himself as a regular points scorer and top five finisher in the UK’s top single seater category.
Johnson – another huge US talent in the making – finished second in the USF Pro 2000 Championship in 2024, with eight wins, ten podiums, six pole positions and eight fastest laps.
Behind the young guns in the first session, more rising stars Scoular and Zagazeta were fifth and seventh, sandwiching Supercars champion Will Brown in sixth. Graduates from the 2024 Castrol Toyota FR Oceania Championship – Korea’s Michael Shin, USA racer Jett Bowling and Kiwi Alex Crosbie rounded out the top ten.
For much of the second session Heuzenroeder topped the times ahead of mtec Round One race winner Zack Scoular, with Pierson just a tenth down on the fastest time. With the clock ticking towards the end of the 30 minute session Lindblad went quickest before Matias Zagazeta went two tenths faster again in the final few seconds.
Lindblad had one more lap in him, however, and ended the session with the best time of the day, 1 minute 29.790 – good enough to beat Zagazeta’s best by just one thousandth of a second.
In an overcast second session later in the day, behind Lindblad, Zagazeta and an impressive Alex Crosbie – another to post a very late best time – Heuzenroeder, Scoular and Pierson were fourth, fifth and sixth this time.
Will Brown was seventh fastest ahead of an ever-improving Shawn Rashid in eighth, with Chinese F4 champion Enzo Yeh going much better than in the first session to clock the ninth fastest time. Shin was back in the top half again with tenth fastest time.
Header Image: Bruce Jenkins (Toyota Gazoo Racing)
