Zack Scoular takes lights to flag victory over Will Brown in Taupo CTFROC opener

Kiwi hope Zack Scoular has converted pole position to victory in the opening race of the 2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship at Taupo International Motorsport Park.

Driving for MTEC Motorsport, Scoular led from lights to flag, also setting the fastest lap, to lead home Supercars champion Will Brown, Red Bull Junior Arvid Lindblad and 2024 USF Pro 2000 Championship runner-up Nikita Johnson for victory on debut.

Not only was it Scoular’s first race in CTFROC, it was his first in New Zealand, having spent his junior years competing in the UAE and the UK.

Brown’s CTFROC debut was just as impressive, fending off Lindblad through the opening corner and remaining in contact with the leader until late in proceedings to show he is just as capable in a single-seater as he is in a Supercar.

The gap between the front three fluctuated over the entire 17 laps, Brown managing the margin early and moving to within seven-tenths with four laps remaining, only for Scoular to hammer down and win by 2.069 seconds.

Lindblad nearly took second off Brown at the end of the opening lap after the latter ran wide through Turn 14, but a defensive effort from the #87 Red Bull-backed entry kept the F2 driver at bay through turns one and two.

From there, Brown was comfortable in his position, not presenting the British driver with another real opportunity to attack.

Johnson was fourth home, initially dropping off the pace of the lead three who pulled to a clear advantage over the field early, but he worked his way back into contention over the final laps, finishing just seven-tenths off the podium.

M2 Competition’s Matias Zagazeta, the first ever driver from Peru to complete a race in the seies’ 20-year history, was two seconds back in fifth, ahead of South Korea’s Michael Shin.

Enzo Yeh of Chinese Taipei was seventh, while Indy NXT racer Josh Pierson completed the top eight, earning pole for Sunday’s opening race, which features a reverse top eight grid.

Pierson was made to work for the position however, with Australia’s Patrick Heuzenroeder briefly taking it at the start of the final lap, only for the American to reclaim it shortly after.

Heuzenroeder, who was only able to complete one lap in qualifying due to an issue with his car and still managed to go sixth fastest, found further complication at Turn 1 on Lap 1, being pushed out wide which sent him down the order.

A strong recovery drive saw him pass the likes of Jett Bowling, Nicholas Monterro and Kiwi hopes Sebastian Manson and Alex Crosbie to pressure Pierson for eighth, and less than three tenths seperated the pair at the chequered flag.

As a result, Pierson lines up first on Sunday, next to Yeh, while Heuzenroeder will be forced to start from ninth.

Manson was the second Kiwi home in tenth, keeping Crosbie at bay through the early stages before putting over six seconds on his compatriot in the closing stages as the Southlander was forced to hold off Monteiro, which he did by just half a second.

Nicolas Stati was 13th ahead of Jett Bowling, while Shawn Rashid recovered from a start line stall to catch the field up and finish 15th.

Barrett Wolfe and James Lawley completed the running order.

The Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship returns on Sunday with qualifying for the feature at 9.47 am, followed by Race 2, the reverse top eight grid race, at 1.00 pm and the 23-lap Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy race at 4.50 pm.

Live coverage will be shown free and globally on the Stuff Speedhub.

CTFROC Round 1 Race 1 Results