Scoular upstages international stars for CTFROC pole at Taupo, Brown second

Dubai-based Kiwi Zack Scoular has upstaged the likes of Supercars champion Will Brown, American star Nikita Johnson and Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad to qualify on pole for today’s opening race of the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship (CTFROC) at Taupo International Motorsport Park.

Scoular, competing in New Zealand for the first time for MTEC Motorsport, set a best lap of 1:23.616 mid-way through the 15-minute session to pip Brown by just 0.078 seconds.

Brown had set his best effort, 1:23.694, just moments earlier to jump to provisional pole, only for Scoular, a podium finisher at Brands Hatch in British F4, to leapfrog him.

“Honestly that was a bit of a surprise to me,” he said afterwards. “We had a lot of work to do last night but we have been over everything where we wanted to improve and I took a lot of time to reflect on my own performance and think about where I could be faster.

“The car was ultimately very similar to yesterday but I was able to get more out of myself. This track is unique and you cannot really afford to make a mistake.”

Brown, making his CTFROC debut, will start on the front row, ahead of Johnson and Lindblad.

Just 30 seconds of track time was possible before Johnson came to a halt with a fuel coupling issue, but he was towed back to the pit lane for M2 Competition to make a repair and send him back out quickly. His best lap, 1:23.793, came 10 minutes in.

Lindblad left it late to earn a second-row start, pipping Matias Zagazeta by just 0.001 seconds with a 1:23.842 on his final attempt. That time was still over two-tenths behind surprise pole-sitter Scoular.

Joining Zagazeta on the third row is Australian Patrick Heuzenroeder of MTEC Motorsport, who could only complete one flying lap but put it to good use.

The 19-year-old from Sydney, who has former F1 driver David Brabham in his garage this weekend, spent the majority of the session in pit lane with an issue believed to be with a steering rod, but showed resilience on his sole flying lap to be one of only six drivers to go under the 1:24 barrier.

Michael Shin, who finished fourth in the 2024 CTFROC, lines up seventh, next to Indy NXT driver Josh Pierson.

M2 Competition’s Enzo Yeh and MTEC’s Nicholas Monteiro complete the top ten.

Kiwi driver Sebastian Manson set a best effort of 1:24.569 for 11th, just 0.013 behind Monteiro and equal with Shawn Rashid. As he set his time first, Manson lines up 11th and Rashid 12th.

Southland’s Alex Crosbie was 13th, ahead of Jett Bowling, Nicolas Stati, James Lawley, and Barrett Wolfe, who rounds out the 17-strong field.

Today’s CTFROC opener begins at approximately 3.30 pm and can be watched live, free and globally on the Stuff Speedhub platform.

CTFROC Round 1 Qualifying 1 Results