Nakamura fastest as weather threat looms

Jin Nakamura was the fastest man of the day at Teretonga Park as drivers made final changes to set up ahead of the third round of the 2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy.

With rain in the Invercargill region potentially a real threat to qualifying on Saturday, drivers and teams were given the nod that the third and final session of the day could be used to form the race 1 grid – so all effectively went out on simulated qualifying runs and added new tyres late in the session.

Most spent the early laps on older tyres as the fuel loads dropped and it was M2 Competition’s Freddie Slater and Ugo Ugochukwu who set the early pace in the first half of the session. But Nakamura handled the pressure situation best of all for Hitech, and clocked a 53.749 second lap around the short and compact 2.57km lap.

Slater eventually finished second and Hitech’s Kanato Le third. Seb Manson was quick in the final session too, ahead of Ugochukwu in the end and Ernesto Rivera, who had enjoyed a strong day for M2 Competition.

The extra pressure of the final session seemed to suit the two time world rally champ Kalle Rovanperä well too, as he leapt to sixth fastest time with less than five minutes remaining in the session – the three tenths gap to the fastest time being the closest the Finn has been to the top of the timesheets. He went faster too, but so did other drivers, and he ended the session tenth.

The first session started on a wet track, but there was no rain and it dried progressively through the session. Two red flags slowed the session and allowed some of the runners to get out on slick towards the end, but it was still slippery and times were consequently a few seconds off Thursdays collective testing times.

Turn one claimed Ryan Wood and Trevor LaTourette and brought out the red flag early but there was no contact between the two, Wood effectively going off in sympathy as LaTourette spun in front of him. Both cars were recovered without damage and indeed Wood was able to resume later in the session. Rivera also went off at turn one late in the session and brought out the red flag and an early end to the session itself – again with no damage

Slater looked full committed in the challenging conditions as most teams opted for higher downforce settings in the conditions. Slater’s M2 Competition team was one of those. In the end it was team mate Ernesto Rivera who was second fastest in the session, ahead of Hitech’s Fionn McLaughlin who looked like he was thoroughly enjoying the tricky and changeable track conditions.

Championship leader Ugochukwu was there yet again with fourth fastest time, while Louis Sharp had a solid session for mtec Motorsport. Further back Nolan Allaer had looked very strong in the wettest of the session for Giles Motorsport, as had his team mate Jack Taylor.

The times were much quicker in the second session and again it was close – with just nine tenths separating first from seventeenth on the time sheets.

Sharp continued building on his Thursday form with another blistering lap under the 54 second mark, but he was just four one hundredths faster than Hitech’s Nakamura and mtec Motorsport’s Zac Scoular, with Ugochukwu and Slater next up with times just over the 54 second mark. It would still stand as one of the fastest laps of the day, but he could only manage eleventh fastest in the third session.

Yuanpu Cui was a couple of tenths down on the fast five in sixth in that second session while IndyNXT racer Nolan Allaer continued to impress with his speed against much younger talent with a fine seventh fastest for Giles Motorsport.

It was a much more challenging day for Ryan Wood than he would have hoped. His morning off cost him time and he never got back on to the ultimate pace for the rest of the day,

He ended the final session with the sixteenth fastest time, so will have plenty of work to do to keep up the momentum of his Taupo feature race win last weekend.

Saturday – with hopefully better weather than predicted – will bring qualifying and the first two of four races this weekend.

2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy – Round 3 – Teretonga Practice 1

1	27	Freddie SLATER	GBR	M2 Competition
2	24	Ernesto RIVERA	MEX	M2 Competition
3	33	Fionn MCLAUGHLIN	IRL	Hitech
4	4	Ugo UGOCHUKWU	USA	M2 Competition
5	11	Louis SHARP	NZL	mtec  Motorsport
6	19	Kanato LE	JPN	Hitech
7	21	Yevan DAVID	LKA	Kiwi Motorsport
8	12	Jin NAKAMURA	JPN	Hitech
9	22	Sebastian MANSON	NZL	M2 Competition
10	14	Cooper SHIPMAN	USA	Kiwi Motorsport
11	52	Nolan ALLAER	USA	Giles Motorsport
12	50	Jack TAYLOR	AUS	Giles Motorsport
13	69	Kalle ROVANPERÄ	FIN	Hitech
14	5	Yuanpu CUI	CHN	mtec Motorsport
15	41	Ricardo BAPTISTA	BRA	TJ Speed with HMD
16	3	Zack SCOULAR	NZL	mtec  Motorsport
17	40	Ryan WOOD	NZL	mtec Motorsport
18	8	Trevor LATOURRETTE	USA	TJ Speed with HMD

2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy – Round 3 – Teretonga Practice 2

1	11	Louis SHARP	NZL	mtec  Motorsport
2	12	Jin NAKAMURA	JPN	Hitech
3	3	Zack SCOULAR	NZL	mtec  Motorsport
4	4	Ugo UGOCHUKWU	USA	M2 Competition
5	27	Freddie SLATER	GBR	M2 Competition
6	5	Yuanpu CUI	CHN	mtec Motorsport
7	52	Nolan ALLAER	USA	Giles Motorsport
8	19	Kanato LE	JPN	Hitech
9	24	Ernesto RIVERA	MEX	M2 Competition
10	40	Ryan WOOD	NZL	mtec Motorsport
11	22	Sebastian MANSON	NZL	M2 Competition
12	50	Jack TAYLOR	AUS	Giles Motorsport
13	33	Fionn MCLAUGHLIN	IRL	Hitech
14	21	Yevan DAVID	LKA	Kiwi Motorsport
15	41	Ricardo BAPTISTA	BRA	TJ Speed with HMD
16	14	Cooper SHIPMAN	USA	Kiwi Motorsport
17	69	Kalle ROVANPERÄ	FIN	Hitech
18	8	Trevor LATOURRETTE	USA	TJ Speed with HMD

2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy – Round 3 – Teretonga Practice 3

1	12	Jin NAKAMURA	JPN	Hitech
2	27	Freddie SLATER	GBR	M2 Competition
3	19	Kanato LE	JPN	Hitech
4	22	Sebastian MANSON	NZL	M2 Competition
5	4	Ugo UGOCHUKWU	USA	M2 Competition
6	24	Ernesto RIVERA	MEX	M2 Competition
7	3	Zack SCOULAR	NZL	mtec  Motorsport
8	33	Fionn MCLAUGHLIN	IRL	Hitech
9	5	Yuanpu CUI	CHN	mtec Motorsport
10	69	Kalle ROVANPERÄ	FIN	Hitech
11	11	Louis SHARP	NZL	mtec  Motorsport
12	52	Nolan ALLAER	USA	Giles Motorsport
13	50	Jack TAYLOR	AUS	Giles Motorsport
14	21	Yevan DAVID	LKA	Kiwi Motorsport
15	14	Cooper SHIPMAN	USA	Kiwi Motorsport
16	40	Ryan WOOD	NZL	mtec Motorsport
17	41	Ricardo BAPTISTA	BRA	TJ Speed with HMD
18	8	Trevor LATOURRETTE	USA	TJ Speed with HMD