Zack Scoular made it a fine day for Kiwi race drivers as he took victory in the second race of the day at Hampton Downs on the opening day of the 2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy.
A fine start from the front row set the scene for a strong drive by the mtec Motorsport racer all the way to the flag, with the 2025 Rookie Champion racing away from Hitech’s Jin Nakamura.
It made it two wins for two Kiwis after Louis Sharp’s morning victory, and two out of two for mtec. “We got a very good launch of the line, and went from there,” Scoular explained on the podium.
“You do need to use the push to pass strategically, and it is a bit of a learning curve, but it’s great to win in this field.”
With the top eight finishers reversed from the morning’s race results to form the front portion of the grid, it was Yevan David on pole position with Scoular alongside.
Red Bull Junior Ernesto Rivera stalled on the grid but was able to get away just in time to start from the pit lane, and as the lights went out, Scoular made the best start to lead away.
Freddie Slater was straight into attack mode and sat alongside David around the outside of turn two – a move he made stick. And it was just in time too, as a spin and stall for James Wharton at the notorious ‘Double B’ brought out an early Safety Car.
It was lap four by the time everyone had sorted themselves out, and former North Island Formula Ford champion and Safety Car driver Callum Crawley set the field free, with Scoular taking the lead once more.
A stunning battle behind the leaders quickly developed with three and often four cars abreast. The battle cost the front wing of Hitech’s Kanato Le, who headed for the pits, and that left teammate Jin Nakamura in third, Slater in fourth, Ryan Wood in fifth, and Ugo Ugochukwu in sixth, with race one winner Louis Sharp also in the thick of the battle in seventh.
The first five laps provided some of the hardest racing seen in the category, magnified by the inclusion of the push-to-pass button, which gives drivers 10 seconds of boost every couple of laps on the long Hampton Downs layout.
Nakamura moved into second past David with a clean move at the start of lap seven and quickly built an advantage of a few tenths, as Slater too tried to find a way past the Sri Lankan.
Yevan managed to hold on, but his defence brought Wood into the mix in the battle for third. Wood passed David as the cars started lap eight and immediately attacked Slater, as Ugochukwu became the next to get David in his sights.
Scoular, meanwhile, made the most of the racing going on behind and got his head down to build a gap of three seconds at the halfway mark. Another was going well at that point was rally icon Kalle Rovanperä, who had worked his way up to tenth place and looked far from done as he pressured American Nolan Allaer ahead.
David went backwards in the second half of the race, falling victim in quick succession to Ugochukwu, Sharp and Allaer. Yuanpu Cui should have been next, but slowed on lap 12 and fell to the back of the field.
As the laps counted down, Nakamura in second started to close in on the leader, but he had no answer for the Kiwi, who raced away for his first win of the season and the second of the day for Kiwi drivers.
Nakamura took a great second place, while Slater resisted Ryan Wood for the final place on the podium. Ugochukwu was fifth, morning winner Sharp sixth, Allaer a fine seventh, Australian Jack Taylor a solid eighth, with David hanging on for ninth and Red Bull Junior Fionn McLaughlin in tenth, just a second and a half ahead of Rovanperä.
All the weekend’s remaining action will be livestreamed on TGRNZ’s YouTube channel, and all races will be live on Sky Sport NZ. Tickets to come along to the Sunday races are still available at https://nextgennz.flicket.co.nz
Header Image: Joel Hanks
