Lindblad fastest as FR Oceania cars set blistering pace at Hampton Downs

| Photographer Credit: Bruce Jenkins

Britain’s Arvid Lindblad set the standard once again in the 2025 Castrol Toyota FR Oceania championship with a record-breaking lap around Hampton Downs to snatch pole position for the first race.

Lindblad started slowly in the session but by the end was the man to beat and on his final flying lap left a time that was just too quick for the rest in a closely fought session.

Zack Scoular for mtec Motorsport and team mate Shawn Rashid posted the first quick laps but it was another mtec driver, Nicholas Monteiro, who went under the 1 minute 30 second mark first.

Scoular went into the 1 minute 28 second bracket next time around on his second flying lap as all of the drivers made the most of the fast conditions of the morning at the North Waikato circuit.

The leading lights from the previous days testing all then started to chase the top time and the third flying lap saw Scoular lower the mark yet again to 1 minute 28.496, with American Josh Pierson, Supercars champion Will Brown for Giles Motorsport, fellow Australian Patrick Heuzenroeder and Peru’s Matias Zagazeta all close behind.

Arvid Lindblad arrived at the top of the time sheets next time around and held top spot on a 1 minute 28.465 lap momentarily. Scoular and Pierson then bettered the Red Bull driver’s best – Scoular’s 1 minute 28.311 setting a new mark for the Toyota FT60s fastest ever lap of the circuit. Pierson then set another new mark at 1 minute 28.184 seconds and all of a sudden a sub 1 minute 28 second lap seemed possible.

It was that man Lindblad who got closest with a 1 minute 28.074 with just a minute and a half to go of the session, as Scoular and Pierson also continued to improve their best lap times. Scoular looked odds on to beat the 1 minute 28 second barrier on his final lap, but a small mistake left him just shy of that, and rival Lindblad. Will Brown was just a tenth back in fourth as the cars on track surged into their final lap of the session – but there were to be no further changes to the order.

The top 13 of the field were covered by a remarkably low nine tenths of a second after a very exciting session around the 3.8km track.

Lindblad was delighted to maintain the form that had seen him leave the first round as championship leader and feature race winner.

“I didn’t do a good job in the early laps but the team gave me a really good car and I think we have made a good step forward from Taupo,” he said afterwards.

“I really enjoy this circuit although I’m not sure it’s more to my style or not. It’s really cool and there’s a really nice flow to it. It’s quite challenging with the bumps which is not something I’m really used to.”

Once the dust had settled, it was Lindblad on pole from Scoular, Pierson, Brown, Korea’s Michael Shin, Heuzenroeder, Zagazeta, Nikita Johnson, Sebastian Manson and Enzo Yeh who locked in the first five rows of the grid for the afternoon’s first race of the weekend.

2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship – R2 Qualifying 1

14Arvid LindbladM2 CompetitionGBR
23Zack ScoularMTEC MotorsportNZL
314Josh PiersonMTEC MotorsportUSA
487Will BrownGiles MotorsportAUS
523Michael ShinM2 CompetitionKOR
65Patrick HeuzenroederMTEC MotorsportAUS
78Matias ZagazetaM2 CompetitionPER
817Nikita JohnsonM2 CompetitionUSA
969Sebastian MansonM2 CompetitionNZL
1077Enzo YehM2 CompetitionTPE
1141Alex CrosbieGiles MotorsportNZL
1232Shawn RashidMTEC MotorsportUSA
1322Jett BowlingKiwi MotorsportUSA
1415Nicolas StatKiwi MotorsportAUS
159Nicholas MonteiroMTEC MotorsportBRA
1613Barrett WolfeGiles MotorsportUSA
1788James LawleyKiwi MotorsportCAN

2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship – Points after Round 1

PosNo.DriverTeamPoints
14Arvid LindbladM2 Competition78
28Matias ZagazetaM2 Competition73
33Zack Scoularmtec Motorsport68
417Nikita JohnsonM2 Competition58
587Will BrownGiles Motorsport54
614Josh Piersonmtec Motorsport54
723Michael ShinM2 Competition48
85Patrick Heuzenroedermtec Motorsport46
977Enzo YehM2 Competition37
1069Sebastian MansonM2 Competition33
1113Shawn Rashidmtec Motorsport23
129Nicholas Monteiromtec Motorsport22
1341Alex CrosbieGiles Motorsport21
1422Jett BowlingKiwi Motorsport20
1515Nicolas StatiKiwi Motorsport15
1632Barrett WolfeGiles Motorsport13
1788James LawleyKiwi Motorsport8

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