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Home Formula RegionalFRegional Oceania Bilinski edges Sceats to FRegional Oceania pole at Ruapuna

Bilinski edges Sceats to FRegional Oceania pole at Ruapuna

by Bethonie Waring

Photo: TGR NZ

Romain Bilinski took pole position for race one of the penultimate round of the Formula Regional Oceania season at Ruapuna.

The championship leader swapped fastest laps at the top of the order with the returning Jacob Abel throughout Q1, and ended up on top after setting a 1m17.430s to net his fourth pole of the year.

It was a relatively trouble-free session for the field, though a number of drivers did go wide at turn two. Lucas Fecury ran into trouble a handful of times, spinning around early on and once running slightly wide. He managed to continue on both occasions and the session ran green throughout.

Abel led Kaden Probst at the head of the timesheet at first before Bilinski jumped to the top of the order just before the halfway point of Q1.

The pair gradually lowered the pace. Liam Sceats joined the duo in fighting for pole but was never able to get himself into first place and instead occupied second place multiple times. He ended the session having lapped just 0.061 seconds slower than Bilinski and therefore joining him on the front row ahead of Abel.

Kalebl Ngatoa qualified fourth ahead of Patrick Woods-Toth and Alex Crosbie.  

Bryce Aron, the second American driver joining the field for the final two rounds of the season and a series debutant, was seventh fastest. Gerrard Xie, Michael Shin and Titus Sherlock completed the top 10 in the 15-car field.

Qualifying results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Roman Bilinski M2 Competition 1m17.404s 11
2 Liam Sceats M2 Competition 1m17.465s +0.061s 11
3 Jacob Abel MTEC Motorsport 1m17.532s +0.128s 11
4 Kaleb Ngatoa Giles Motorsport 1m17.883s +0.479s 11
5 Patrick Woods-Toth Kiwi Motorsport 1m17.970s +0.566s 11
6 Alex Crosbie Giles Motorsport 1m17.973s +0.569s 10
7 Bryce Aron M2 Competition 1m18.048s +0.644s 11
8 Gerrard Xie M2 Competition 1m18.089s +0.685s 11
9 Michael Shin M2 Competition 1m18.142s +0.738s 11
10 Titus Sherlock Kiwi Motorsport 1m18.275s +0.871s 11
11 Kaden Probst MTEC Motorsport 1m18.302s +0.898s 11
12 Jett Bowling Kiwi Motorsport 1m18.389s +0.985s 11
13 Landan Matriano Lim Giles Motorsport 1m18.634s +1.230s 11
14 Jake Bonilla Kiwi Motorsport 1m18.718s +1.314s 11
15 Lucas Fecury MTEC Motorsport 1m19.061s +1.657s 11