Photo: Bruce Jenkins
Formula Regional Oceania’s 2025 runner-up Zack Scoular will return to the paddock next year with MTEC Motorsport to go for the title.
The 2026 season will be the first using a shortened calendar which means FRegional Oceania’s championship status will be conceded and it will instead operate as an FIA Regional Trophy.
It leaves Scoular with four weekends rather than five to go one better than he did this year, with the same team he competed with previously.
Back in January the 18-year-old took pole on debut, then claimed two victories and five other podiums across the campaign and was only outscored by Arvid Lindblad who is stepping up to Formula 1 next year. He was also runner-up in the season-ending New Zealand Grand Prix.
“I would love to be able to win the championship in front of [a] home crowd,” Dubai-based Kiwi racer Scoular said. “I really enjoyed the championship campaign last season and learned a lot, but I would love to go one better this time around.”
He added: “Every race is a chance to show how much I have grown.”
Following his starring and unexpectedly strong campaign down under, a harder time was had by Scoular in Eurocup-3 this year with Palou Motorsport. He failed to score in both the main championship and the winter series, coming 34th in the former.
Scoular had stepped up to FRegional after little over a year in Formula 4, coming 17th in the 2024 F4 United Arab Emirates standings with a single top-five finish and 15th in British F4 with one podium.