Photo: TGR NZ
Jin Nakamura was fastest in Formula Regional Oceania free practice at Highlands Motorsport Park, as Liam Sceats returned to the grid.
Sceats was championship runner-up in 2024 and won the New Zealand Grand Prix, and the 20-year-old Kiwi is aiming to repeat the latter feat this weekend as that race wraps up the season.
He has joined HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed’s line-up in a deal that was only struck last weekend, and he knows both teams in the joint entry well. In 2024 he came fifth in USF Pro 2000 with TJ Speed, and last year he stepped up to Indy Nxt with HMD for a part-time campaign and had a best finish of sixth place en route to 18th in the standings.
Sceats got back in the FRegional cockpit during pre-event testing on Thursday, which was split into two sessions. M2 Competition’s Ugo Ugochukwu was quickest with a 1m29.206s lap, and he had gaps of 0.125 seconds and 0.163s to MTEC Motorsport’s Ryan Wood and Louis Sharp in second and third.
HMD with TJ Speed’s James Wharton, returning to the paddock after missing a round, was fourth fastest and Sceats was 1.317s off the pace in 16th after six months out of action.
Practice followed on Friday, and in FP1 it was Hitech GP’s Jin Nakamura who set the pace. His final-lap 1m28.279s effort earned him top spot by just 0.043s over Wharton, with Ugochukwu also within 0.1s of him. Kanato Le (Hitech), Yuanpu Cui (MTEC) and Freddie Slater (M2) all trailed by less than a quarter of a second, Sceats was seventh and a second split the top 17.
FP2 was a slightly slower session, as a 1m28.567s was enough to put Zack Scoular (MTEC) on top and lift him from 17th to seventh overall in the combined classifications of the two sessions. He edged Ugochukwu by 0.095s, Sceats by 0.13s and Nakamura by 0.153s. Scoular was the sole driver in the 19-car field to improve on their FP1 pace.
In FP3, Wood was fastest. He set a 1m28.791s late on, improving on another sub-1m29s laptime that had been deleted, and led Wharton by 0.069s. Sceats was 0.258s back in third, and Sharp was 0.598s off in fourth. Nobody set personal bests, and Scoular was absent.
Free practice results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jin Nakamura | Hitech GP | 1m28.279s | 36 |
| 2 | James Wharton | HMD w/ TJ Speed | +0.043s | 45 |
| 3 | Ugo Ugochukwu | M2 Competition | +0.094s | 40 |
| 4 | Kanato Le | Hitech GP | +0.221s | 37 |
| 5 | Yuanpu Cui | MTEC Motorsport | +0.228s | 45 |
| 6 | Freddie Slater | M2 Competition | +0.230s | 33 |
| 7 | Zack Scoular | MTEC Motorsport | +0.288s | 25 |
| 8 | Liam Sceats | HMD w/ TJ Speed | +0.349s | 43 |
| 9 | Ryan Wood | MTEC Motorsport | +0.362s | 44 |
| 10 | Louis Sharp | MTEC Motorsport | +0.400s | 43 |
| 11 | Ernesto Rivera | M2 Competition | +0.488s | 39 |
| 12 | Yevan David | Kiwi Motorsport | +0.678s | 40 |
| 13 | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech GP | +0.784s | 37 |
| 14 | Cooper Shipman | Kiwi Motorsport | +0.804s | 38 |
| 15 | Ricardo Baptista | HMD w/ TJ Speed | +0.862s | 45 |
| 16 | Nolan Allaer | Giles Motorsport | +0.909s | 40 |
| 17 | Sebastian Manson | M2 Competition | +0.930s | 39 |
| 18 | Jack Taylor | Giles Motorsport | +1.233s | 39 |
| 19 | Trevor LaTourrette | HMD w/ TJ Speed | +3.300s | 37 |