Lindblad takes control of FR Oceania championship with feature race win

Britain’s Arvid Lindblad capped a fine weekend at Hampton Downs and the second round of the 2025 Castrol Toyota FR Oceania championship – winning the Dorothy Smith Memorial Trophy feature race and taking a firm grip of the championship lead in New Zealand.

The Red Bull Junior once again made a perfect getaway in the 23 lap race, held off a charging Zack Scoular, then showed his class by staying a second and a half ahead of the Kiwi for the vast majority of the race. It was a polished performance, and his lap record breaking pace in the closing laps showed his class to all.

“The start was a bit difficult and it was a bit hairy in turn one. The first two laps were tricky but I then settled into a nice rhythm and started to build the gap. It wasn’t easy as the gap was small and any mistake I made would have let Zack in. So it was pretty tough.  I’m here to win to races though, so I’m happy with the result.”

Every driver knew the importance of the start and the opening lap and Zack Scoular is certainly learning, as he made a huge effort to stay with Lindblad as the Red Bull driver rocketed away from the lights. Both made great starts and were side by side at turn one.

Lindblad and Scoular get away well and duel side by side for the first half lap until Lindblad edged ahead. Pierson slotted into third but was immediately under attack. Pierson managed to hang on ahead until turn two second time around when Will sneaked up the inside for third.  

Pierson held on to fourth ahead of Nikita Johnson for fourth and fifth. Further back, Zagazeta was putting a difficult weekend behind him and going along nicely in sixth.

By lap four, Brown was only a couple of car lengths behind Zack, who in turn was definitely keeping Lindblad in his sights a similar distance ahead. Pierson was only a second further back as they completed the first five laps, ahead of Johnson, Zagazeta, Patrick Heuzenroeder, Michael Shin, morning race winner Sebastian Manson and Shawn Rashid, going well again after a solid weekend in the North Waikato.

The very physical 23 lap race then settled down but there were notable battles to keep the crowd excited as the laps rolled on. Manson and Rashid were engaged in a great battle, as were Nicholas Monteiro and Jett bowling further back in the field.

Lindblad certainly wasn’t cruising, breaking the lap record on lap six – with a 1 minute 28.744 second effort and by lap eight he had used his pace to build a 1.3 second lead ahead of Scoular, who remained just a few tenths ahead of Brown. It certainly wasn’t over for Scoular though, as he lowered the lap record on lap eight to 1 minute 28.484. Next time around it was Brown who put his name in the record books with a 1 minute 28.469 for Giles Motorsport.

The top three were clearly pushing very hard – too hard in Brown’s case as he lost it going into the first turn at the start of lap 11.  He recovered quickly but fell back to eighth to immediately start a fightback with Michael Shin first in his sights.

Brown’s mistake elevated Pierson back into third and at the half way mark Lindblad led Scoular by 1.3 seconds, ahead of Josh, Johnson, Zagazeta, Heuzenroeder, Shin, Brown and Rashid – who had earlier managed to pass Manson.

In the final laps, all eyes were on the Supercars champ as he tried everything he knew to find a way past Korean Shin, who defended well, and fairly.

At the flag it was Lindblad and Scoular first and second with Scoular retaining his second place on points in the championship. Lindblad’s late race pace saw him take the flag with a margin of almost three seconds.

Pierson was delighted to take the final place on the podium after what he described as a ‘tricky race’ and Johnson’s fourth place moved him up to third overall in the title chase. Zagazeta turned in a great drive for fifth, one second ahead of Heuzenroeder with Shin and Brown next up in their deadlocked battle. Rashid came home ninth a few seconds back while Sunday morning’s victor Sebastian Manson completed the top ten.

2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship – R2 Hampton – Dorothy Smith Memorial Trophy