Josh Pierson tops testing ahead of FRegional Oceania season opener

Photo: TGR NZ

Josh Pierson was fastest in pre-event testing for the Formula Regional Oceania season opener at Taupo on Thursday.

The 17-car entry list was split into two groups in the morning, with each getting a 20-minute test session, then later in the day the paddock combined for two half-hour sessions.

M2 Competition’s Arvid Lindblad was comfortably quickest in Group A, setting a 1m23.816s late on to put himself 0.632 seconds ahead of team-mate Matias Zagazeta in second place. MTEC Motorsport’s Patrick Heuzenroeder was a further 0.158s behind, with nobody else within a second of Lindblad.

The pace was slower in Group B, as Giles Motorsport’s Will Brown – the reigning Australian Supercars champion – posted a 1m24.117s to lead M2’s Michael Shin by 0.447s. Enzo Yeh, another of M2’s drivers, was 0.879s slower than Brown in third, and close behind Yeh were MTEC’s Pierson, M2’s slicks-and-wings newcomer Sebastian Manson and MTEC’s Nicholas Monteiro.

Brown was quickest again in the first of the combined test sessions, with a 1m24.003s putting him just 0.188s ahead of Lindblad. Shin was 0.248s off Brown in third and Heuzenroeder trailed by 0.351s in fourth. Pierson and Zagazeta completed the top six.

Nine drivers set their personal best laptimes in the final test session, and Ed Carpenter Racing junior Pierson leaped to the top. A 1m23.389s made him the fastest of the afternoon by 0.441s, and fastest overall by 0.427s as he beat Lindblad’s earlier benchmark.

MTEC’s Zack Scoular also broke the 1m24s barrier to go fourth fastest overall, ahead of Brown and Shin. Zagazeta improved but was a second off the pace in sixth place, and Lindblad was 1.154s slower than Pierson but second overall due to his morning pace.

Test results