Australian Tom McLennan has officially kicked-off his Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship campaign at Highlands Motorsport Park in New Zealand. The 18-year-old Queenslander finished the three-race weekend with two top 10 finishes that sees him placed 10th outright in the five-round championship.
“It was a struggle this weekend, getting to grips with the car and trusting the car on the high speed corners,” said McLennan.
“Highlands is a really physical track. Race 3, the long race, was really tricky. I made a great start, but I wore out as the car fell off, so it was a bit tricky to manage towards the end.”
One of just two Australian drivers in the field, McLennan is taking part in this FIA-certified championship that will be held across the North and South Island’s of New Zealand in a five-week burst.
In the opening qualifying session on Saturday, McLennan qualified a promising ninth, but that strong result was hampered when his car failed to engage first gear on the grid. His #8 car was towed off the grid and into the lane where the Kiwi Motorsport team fixed the problem for him to get out onto the track, albeit a pit lane start.
McLennan made some passing moves and took advantage of attrition to claim 11th in his first high-powered ‘wings and slicks’ race.
In Race 2, McLennan started from 11th, made up one place at the start and stayed in 10th position until the end of the 16 lap affair.
In the final race, McLennan started eighth thanks to an impressive Sunday morning qualifying session and made an even more impressive start, launching up to sixth place at the first corner.
McLennan held sixth for a number of laps before slipping back to claim another 10th place finish.
“The next round at Teretonga is completely different to Highlands,” said McLennan. “It’s only a 50-second lap time, so I’m looking forward to it and see how we can progress.”
The second round of the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship will take place at Teretonga Park this coming weekend, followed by rounds at Manfeild, Hampton Downs and Taupo.
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