Brown up to speed quickly as NZ GP weekend draws close

Supercars champion Will Brown (main photo) served notice of intent for this weekend’s 69th new Zealand Grand Prix by clocking the fastest time in the opening session of unofficial testing at Highlands Motorsport Park and then backing it up with the second-best time later in the day.

With three Red Bull-backed cars circulating, by the end of the day – admittedly only a test day – Brown outpaced both Supercars team mate Broc Feeney and Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship favourite Arvid Lindblad. Kiwi Alex Crosbie clocked the fastest time of the day in the afternoon’s second session in his Castrol Scholarship car.

Brown has been absent for the previous two rounds but wasted no time in getting re-acquainted with his Toyota FT60 and Giles Motorsport team to set a best of 1 minute 31.04 seconds around the unique and incredibly scenic 4.1km track – the longest on the Castrol Toyota FR Oceania calendar.

Joined this weekend by Triple Eight Race Engineering team mate and Supercars runner up Feeney, Brown was quickly into his stride around a circuit he knows well from endurance racing there and ended the session just under nine one hundredths of a second ahead of Rookie champion and new Kiwi ‘find’ Zack Scoular.

Broc was taking over the car used by American Josh Pierson – who has gone back to the USA for IndyNxt testing. Pierson, a fine young racer and a gentleman as well, made the most of the opportunity of a handover be leaving a note in the car for Feeney which simply said: “Broc – Can I be your co-driver at the Bathurst 1000 – Yes or No?’

Feeney played himself in methodically in the first session, putting his lack of single seater experience to one side and posting a time that was just over a second away from Brown and just four tenths slower than championship favourite Arvid Lindblad. Feeney was 13th quickest of 17 in that first session.

Behind Brown’s Giles Motorsport entry and Scoular’s mtec Motorsport car was Nicholas Stati of Australia then Jett Bowling for Kiwi Motorsport and Patrick Heuzenroeder for mtec. The first of the M2 Competition cars of Korean Michael Shin was next up in sixth. Nicholas Monteiro was seventh fastest ahead of Shawn Rashid of the USA, Kiwi Alex Crosbie, and Lindblad in tenth.

Will was the early pace setter in the second test session too, clocking a 1 minute 31.225 within the first ten minutes. Alex Crosbie popped up in second place and it was those two who traded times throughout. By the end Crosbie had clocked the fastest time with a 1 minute 30.799, just under two tenths quicker than Brown’s best effort and a good start for Giles Motorsport overseeing both cars.

Jett Bowling backed up his first session performance with another strong run to third, while Scoular clocked the fourth fastest time. Broc Feeney went even better than the first session as he learned more about the nuances of single seaters and impressed with the fifth fastest time of the session.

2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship – Thursday Test 1

2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship – Thursday Test 2