Scoular successful in dramatic wet Manfeild outing

Zack Scoular made the most of his opportunities to convert pole position into race victory in challenging conditions in Sunday’s first of two races in the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship at Manfeild.

Scoular was back to his best in the reverse top-eight grid outing, leading by as much as 13 seconds and holding his nerve on a mid-race restart to lead American stars Nikita Johnson and Josh Pierson home for victory.

With Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad finishing 14th, Scoular has reduced the Brit’s championship lead to just 26 points, while Johnson’s climb from seventh to second sees him enter the weekend’s finale only 10 points adrift of the best-placed Kiwi.

A mid-race incident involving Kiwis Alex Crosbie and Sebastian Manson knocked both from contention, the former losing two laps on the field and the latter forced into retirement.

While the rain had eased ahead of the race, damp patches remained on the circuit, leaving teams split on strategy, the majority starting on wet weather tyres, but the likes of Patrick Heuzenroeder and Lindblad starting on slicks.

On green, Crosbie got a good launch from second on the grid and ran side-by-side with Scoular into Turn 1, the latter holding the inside line and taking the lead through the corner. Manson started third and retained it, ahead of Pierson and Tommy Smith.

Meanwhile, Slick tyres saw Heuzenroeder and Lindblad quickly fall back, the duo dropping from the top 10.

Up front, once clear, Scoular quickly built an advantage. By the end of Lap 2, he was over two seconds clear of Crosbie.

Johnson moved into the podium places on Lap 5, working his way around Manson, with Pierson making the most of the opportunity and following his compatriot through.

By Lap 6, Scoular’s advantage had extended to seven seconds, with Crosbie under increasing pressure from Johnson to hold second. Once the American had found his way through a lap later, Scoular was 11 seconds up the road.

Further back, the slick tyres had come to life, and Lindblad, who had dropped to as low as 14th, began moving forward, entering the top ten again on Lap 10.

Pierson, too, had worked his way past Crosbie mid-race to take third, and the Southlander, Manson and Nicholas Monteiro battled amongst themselves for fourth, running three-wide through Turn 1.

Crosbie would come unstuck just corners later, however, the conditions getting the better of him and resulting in a rare mistake, the teenager spinning out and into Manson, who had nowhere to go to avoid contact.

Crosbie was left on the infield, while Manson was forced to cut through it at high speed with damage to his right rear, where Crosbie’s car had hit him.

Both eventually made their own way back to pit lane, Crosbie’s nose cone departing from his car en route.

The ensuing Safety Car did no favours for Scoular, his then 13-second advantage wiped, with Johnson and Pierson brought back into the equation.

To compound the situation, the rain returned during the intervention, seeing Heuzenroeder stop to switch to wet tyres. Lindblad, however, remained out on slicks, taking the Lap 16 restart in sixth.

On the green, Scoular bolted, with Johnson, Pierson, and Monteiro following. Lindblad, however, was left stranded as a moving roadblock of sorts, the field scrambling for a way around him as he battled the slick tyres on the increasingly wet surface.

Once a rhythm returned, Enzo Yeh had worked his way to fifth, ahead of Shawn Rashid, Tommy Smith, Jett Bowling, Heuzenroeder, Nicolas Stati, and an impressive James Lawley.

Johnson never dropped from the rear of Scoular on the run to the line, keeping the pressure on the Kiwi for a well-earned podium, the duo putting a gap on Pierson and Monteiro over the final laps.

Yeh held on for a commendable fifth, ahead of Rashid, Smith, Heuzenroeder, Stati and Bowling, who completed the top ten.

Lawley ran a tidy race for his best result of the season in 11th, as did Barrett Wolfe for 12th. Matias Zagazeta was 13th, ahead of Lindblad and Michael Shin.

Crosbie was able to finish, albeit it laps down, for vital championship points, while Manson was the sole non-finisher.

The Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship returns for the Dan Higgins Trophy feature race at 4.00 pm, where Lindblad starts from pole next to Johnson.

CTFROC Round 3 Race 2 Results- Manfeild

Header Image: Bruce Jenkins (Toyota Gazoo Racing)