Zagazeta holds on for famous Peruvian first

Matias Zagazeta gave Peru its first victory in New Zealand’s premier single seater championship with a fine drive at the Taupo International Motorsport Park today.

The 21-year-old M2 Competition driver made a great start on old tyres to leap up from fourth on the grid and take the lead around turn one. And from that moment it was a case of eyes forward for the next 18 laps as team mate Yeh – starting on fresher tyres – pressured him all the way to the flag.

It was all academic for Yeh, however, as a five second penalty for creeping at the start demoted the Chinese Taipei driver to fourth in the final results. Behind the lead two, US racer Josh Pierson managed to hold off a charging Arvid Lindblad against the odds for the next spot on the podium.

The race win though, was well-deserved for the three-time Peruvian national karting champion who is also firmly on the international single seater radar having been a podium finisher in the FIA F3 Championship in 2024.

“We knew even before the race that the start was going to be crucial,” he said after receiving his race win trophy from Red Bull F1 driver Liam Lawson.

“Turn 1 here at Taupo is very, very difficult so it was going to be important to get a good start if I was going to fight for a podium place. We had really old tyres so it was all about managing them after a good start.

“It was big pressure defending so I am really glad to have been able to hold him off.  It’s fantastic to represent my country and to take its first win in New Zealand.”

Pierson could be applauded for one of the better defensive races seen in the championship in recent seasons. As early as lap 12 out of 18 he was visibly sliding around and showed great car control to hold off Lindblad. Arvid stalked his rival relentlessly and on a couple of occasions was very close to passing, but Pierson did just enough to hang on to second.

With Yeh demoted to fourth, Nikita Johnson took fifth after another solid drive. He led the charge just a couple of car lengths behind Lindblad all the way to the end, with one eye on the two in front potentially making mistakes and one on the train of cars behind him that was there throughout the race.

Michael Shin followed him home in sixth while Sebastian Manson kept his head and was first Kiwi home in seventh.

Patrick Heuzenroeder made the most of a mistake by Saturday winner Zack Scoular late on and dived past the mtec driver and Will Brown in one move into the final chicane. At the flag the three came home eighth, ninth and tenth.

2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship – Round 1 Race 2