Round 5 of the 2025 Eurocup-3 season saw Tony Quinn Foundation Ambassador Zack Scoular back on track last weekend, battling hard at TT Circuit Assen. The final results didn’t quite reflect the effort or glimpses of promise shown across the weekend, but each outing added to his growing bank of experience.
Like most of the grid, Scoular was making his first appearance at TT Circuit Assen, with the Dutch venue appearing on the Eurocup-3 calendar for the first time this year. Now past the halfway point of the season, the 17-year-old Kiwi was eager to take another step forward in his push towards the points.
Friday’s testing session gave Scoular his first laps of the 4.55km circuit, completing 28 tours with a best time of 1:32.964, just under two seconds off the pace-setter.
Free Practice later in the day was a tougher run for the Palau Motorsports crew, with Scoular unable to match his earlier benchmark and clocking a best of 1:33.573. It left some work to do heading into Qualifying.
In Qualifying 1, Scoular improved by a full second from Practice, posting a 1:32.522 to line up 23rd for Race 1, just under two seconds away from pole-sitter Mattia Colnaghi.
From the 12th row, Scoular made a clean start in Race 1 and battled with Preston Lambert into the opening turns, holding his position while fending off Filippo Fiorentino.
Lambert would run off on Lap 2 while dicing with Scoular’s teammate Issac Barashi, moving the Kiwi up to 22nd, and he gained another place a lap later as another car went off.
A long battle with Lenny Reid followed, with Scoular finally making the move on Lap 17 to crack the Top 20. He was promoted to 19th late in the race after Jules Caranta dropped down the order, crossing the line in that spot. Unfortunately, a track limits penalty added 15 seconds to his time, dropping him to 24th in the final results.
Qualifying 2 brought more frustration, with Scoular’s best time deleted after bringing out a late red flag. That left him starting 28th for Race 2 and facing a big recovery drive.
He got away brilliantly in Sunday’s race, avoiding a stalled car on the grid and navigating first-lap chaos to climb to 20th by Turn 3, eight spots gained in the opening moments. From there, he found himself tucked up behind Lambert again, before losing out to Enzo Tarnvanichkul on Lap 6.
Lorenzo Castillo and Lucas Fluxa also made their way through mid-race, but Scoular stayed in the mix on the fringes of the Top 20. He crossed the line in 20th, only to be hit with another track limits penalty that dropped him to 25th.
In the standings, Scoular remains one of eleven regulars yet to score a point in the ultra-competitive series, with only the Top 10 in each race earning championship points. With three rounds still to go, there’s still time to turn that around.
Scoular now has a four-week break before returning for Round 6 at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in early September.
Header Image: Supplied
