Zack Scoular celebrates winning the 70th edition of the New Zealand Grand Prix. Image: Joel Hanks
Driving for Bruin Beasley’s MTEC Motorsport, Scoular got a stunning start to pip Hitech TGR driver Jin Nakamura into the bus stop chicane.
Scoular never looked back. Though the gap from first to second ebbed and flowed, Nakamura never looked like he would mount a serious challenge for the lead.
With victory, Scoular became the 33rd driver from New Zealand to win the famous grand prix.
Ninth place for Ugo Ugochukwu secured him the Formula Regional Oceania Trophy for M2 Competition.
His nearest title rival and teammate Freddie Slater was fourth behind Hitech TGR driver Kanato Le in third.
“I can’t believe it. Oh my days,” said Scoular.
“You know, we’ve had such a tough year. The pace we’ve shown all year was really good, I just had so many unlucky moments.
“It’s probably the last race I’ll have in single-seaters for the time [being]. I can’t thank the team at MTEC enough, my family, everyone else involved. It means so much.
“It’s not easy being a racing driver, especially financially. We do a lot to try get going and to be able to pay them back with this win means so much.
“Towards the end of the race, we started pulling out a bit of a gap and started getting my head down a bit after managing the tyre. As soon as I saw that Safety Car, I knew.”
Team owner Beasley was overwhelmed with emotions.
It’s the first time that his MTEC team has won the New Zealand Grand Prix.
MTEC Motorsport made its first entry in the Formula Regional Oceania Trophy in 2017 under the former Toyota Racing Series guise.
That came via a partnership between Trevor Scheumack’s ETEC Motorsport and Beasley’s Minda Motorsports.
“It’s a bit emotional. It’s 10 years worth of work,” said Beasley.
“We’ve been on the front row the last three years in a row. Pole last year, a couple of seconds, and now we’ve done it.
“The last few days have been pretty tough, but we’ve always had a car up there. Now we’ve got a big trophy.”
The race was an eventful one, featuring a red flag interruption.
Nolan Allaer threatened to bring out the yellow when he suffered a puncture on Lap 5 following an off-track moment out of Turn 2.
The first Safety Car was called on Lap 11 when Jack Taylor crashed exiting the Turn 12 hairpin.
The red flag was called due to an awkward clean-up. After a brief stoppage, racing resumed on Lap 15.
Ryan wood make a move on his MTEC teammate Louis Sharp to fifth where he would remain until the chequered flag.
There was late drama when Cooper Shipman spun and parked his car in the gravel trap. Then fellow American driver Trevor LaTourrette slammed into the wall at the Turn 2 sweeper.
The race ultimately ended up the control of the Safety Car.
Results: Formula Regional Oceania Trophy Highlands, 70th New Zealand Grand Prix
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Laps/Diff
1
3
Zack Scoular
MTEC Motorsport
27 laps
2
12
Jin Nakamura
Hitech TGR
0.434
3
19
Kanato Le
Hitech TGR
0.807
4
27
Freddie Slater
M2 Competition
1.28
5
40
Ryan Wood
MTEC Motorsport
2.163
6
11
Louis Sharp
MTEC Motorsport
2.796
7
23
Liam Sceats
HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed
3.491
8
13
James Wharton
HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed
4.059
9
4
Ugo Ugochukwu
M2 Competition
4.639
10
22
Sebastian Manson
M2 Competition
5.005
11
33
Fionn McLaughlin
Hitech TGR
5.309
12
41
Ricardo Baptista
HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed
5.921
13
21
Yevan David
Kiwi Motorsport
8.229
14
5
Yuanpu Cui
MTEC Motorsport
11.322
15
52
Nolan Allaer
Giles Motorsport
1 lap
16
8
Trevor LaTourrette
HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed
2 laps
17
14
Cooper Shipman
Kiwi Motorsport
3 laps
DNF
50
Jack Taylor
Giles Motorsport
Lap 9
