Bilinski victorious at Manfeild in disrupted third FRegional Oceania race

Photo: TGR NZ

Roman Bilinski won a disrupted final Formula Regional Oceania race at Manfeild in difficult conditions to grow his points lead.

Intense rain in the closing stages of the race led to a number of cars spinning and the race was red flagged with four laps remaining, not to be restarted.

The early end meant a fourth win of the season for Bilinski, and second place for Christian Mansell in his final Oceania appearance.

Mansell got the better start from second on the grid, but Bilinski was just able to hold onto the race lead. The two were running together on the opening lap when Michael Shin and Nico Lacorte came together further back in the order. The pair both ran into the tyre barriers, and the safety car was called out.  

The race was red flagged so marshals could clear the incident. During the stoppage, the rain that had started shortly before the race start became heavier.

Racing restarted with 23 laps remaining. Bilinski was able to keep Mansell at bay on the restart and pulled out a gap of roughly 2.5 seconds. In the second half of the race, Mansell began to reel him in but Bilinski picked up the pace to keep Mansell a comfortable distance behind.

Tommy Smith and Gerrard Xie both suffered spins before race control made the decision to bring out the safety car again with six laps to go of the scheduled distance. With no signs of the rain stopping, the race was red flagged after lap 23.

Third place went the way of Liam Sceats, who set the fastest lap of the race. Sceats had passed Kaleb Ngatoa shortly after the first restart and closed in on Smith. The pair raced side-by-side, with Smith holding on around the outside to keep the final podium position. He was still running third when the spin allowed Sceats through.

Smith recovered to take fourth, ahead of Ngatoa and Patrick Woods-Toth. 

Alex Crosbie made a good start from 12th on the grid to be running seventh before the first restart, and held onto the position to the chequered flag. Titus Sherlock followed him through the order to take eighth, ahead of Jett Bowling and Elliott Cleary.

Race results (23 laps)