Zack Attack! – Scoular dominant in Manfeild thriller

New Zealander Zack Scoular showed he’s far from beaten in this year’s Castrol Toyota FR Oceania Championship with a masterful win in bizarre weather conditions at Manfeild.

It was a fifty-fifty call for teams and drivers before the start as some chose slicks in light patchy rain and some – including Scoular – opted for wets.

For all apart from Scoular this looked like a gamble that wouldn’t pay off as the slick-shod runners took two or three laps but then started to carve their way through the field and towards the top five – led by Lindblad.

Although he started on wets, Scoular was still driving like a man possessed in his mtec Motorsport car and flying in the drying conditions on the grippy cambered surface. At one stage he was lapping two seconds quicker than everyone else and by lap 11 – the halfway mark - he had built up a hugely impressive lead of 12 seconds.

A quick burst of heavy rain was the deciding factor however, especially when M2 Competition – who had got their strategy just right in qualifying – failed to bring drivers Lindblad, Matias Zagazeta and Michael Shin - in for wets when a lap 14 Safety Car period after a clash between Alex Crosbie and Sebastian Manson in the super slippery conditions.

At the restart Scoular made a great start to build a few car length lead over Nikita Johnson and Josh Pierson and that was how it stayed. Three hugely impressive drives - given the USA drivers lack of experience in the wet. Johnson had opted for wet tyres form his M2 team before the start and it paid off but it was  Scoular’s stunning opening half of the race stole the show.

“I had a great car early on and I knew if I was going to win this race and it was going to dry I had to build a big lead,” he explained after the race.

“I was conscious of looking after the front tyres particularly but the car had plenty of speed even when the track was drying. After the restart it was fully wet and all I had to do was get a good restart, which I did and I was able to bring it home comfortably.”

His result was all the more important as championship leader Arvid Lindblad and his M2 Competition team mates stayed out on slicks as the rain increased and fell to the back. Scoular was able to cut the Red Bull driver’s series lead from 44 points to 26.

Behind the leading trio there was plenty of hard racing for the fans to enjoy, with the tyre choice and speed differentials often providing four abreast racing as the drivers battled the most challenging conditions of the championship so far.

Outside the top three, there were some great performances with Nicholas Monteiro, Enzo Yeh and Shawn Rashid taking fourth, fifth and sixth. These were the trio’s best finishing positions of the championship so far after impressive drives. Tommy Smith was next up for Giles Motorsport in seventh.

A fine eighth went to Patrick Heuzenroeder and his mtec pit crew should also take some credit after a quick pit stop from slicks to wets during the Safety Car period. He was the fastest car on track after the restart and made multiple passes on a recovery drive that took him back up to eighth. Nicholas Stati came home ninth while Jett Bowling survived a moment off track to bring his car home tenth. Next up were Canadian James Lawley and USA racer Barrett Wolfe – both of whom recorded their best results so far.

2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship – Round 3 Manfeild – Race 2

(Provisional)