Photo: Bruce Jenkins / TGR NZ
Zack Scoular will switch to sportscar racing after reaching a new high in his single-seater career, winning the New Zealand Grand Prix.
Last year the 18-year-old Kiwi was Formula Regional Oceania runner-up with MTEC Motorsport, then went points-free in Eurocup-3 and its winter series with Palou Motorsport.
He began 2026 by returning to home soil and MTEC’s line-up in FRegional Oceania, and while he was only seventh in the standings he did win three races including his landmark season-ending triumph.
“I can’t believe it. Oh my days,” was his reaction following victory after getting out of the cockpit. “We’ve had such a tough year. The pace we’ve showed all year was really good, just so many unlucky moments, but to top it off like that – probably the last race I’ll have in single-seaters for the time, for the future. I can’t thank the team at MTEC enough, my family, everyone else involved. It means so much.”
On the grand prix’s safety car finish, he added: “I didn’t really have that much words. Towards the end of the race we started pulling out a bit of a gap, starting getting my head down a bit after managing the tyre. But then as soon as I saw that safety car, I sort of knew, and I was like ‘we just have to get it around for one more lap’.”
For a second successive season, Scoular was backed by the Tony Quinn Foundation. He won its shootout in 2024, and “to be able to still carry the TQF on my racesuit means so much”.
Scoular’s comment on his career future relates to him swapping junior single-seaters for junior sportscars. He will join R-ace GP (best known for its junior single-seater exploits) in the Le Mans Cup later this year to drive an LMP3 prototype.
In the Asian and European Le Mans Series the team is runnning Hugo Schwarze, with fellow GB3 race-winner Lucas Fluxa, Eurocup-3 drivers Luciano Morano and Lenny Ried, and FIA Formula 3 podium-finisher Callum Voisin also on the ALMS grid in LMP3 cars.
USF2000 midfielder Lucas Fecury and Formula 4 graduate Alexander Jacoby will be in the Le Mans Cup’s LMP3 entry list.
Scoular won the New Zealand GP by passing Hitech GP’s Jin Nakamura through the race’s first corner then managing his pace at the front. Nakamura was visibly upset when speaking to media post-race, despite it being his fifth runner-up finish of the season and his birthday.
“I’m a bit disappointed for this [result]. I had a bad start again. Yep, that’s it,” he said. “I’m happy to be here [fourth in the points table].”
After claiming his and Hitech’s first FRegional Oceania win earlier in the day, Kanato Le finished third. He praised the two drivers ahead was “really happy”, calling it “a massive honour and a really nice end” to the season by finishing on the podium.