Photo: TGR NZ
Niko Lacorte and Gerrard Xie are the two latest additions to the grid for Formula Regional Oceania, which has switched tyre supplier for its upcoming 2024 season.
A fire that almost completely engulfed Hankook’s Daejeon plant in South Korea in March 2023 put the tyre manufacturer’s ability to supply rubber for several single-seater series at risk as all production at the facility was put on hold and a large amount of manufacturered stock was lost to the flames.
Although the brand has manufacturing plants worldwide, the Daejon one was the biggest in scale of production and the majority of tyres from there were exported. It is also where most tyres made for racing came from.
The situation was so severe that almost nine months on, Hankook was still in a position where it was unable to meet supply agreements and so FRegional Oceania signed a deal with Italian brand Pirelli for the next two seasons.
“It was unfortunate of course and like many championships we were facing the prospect of not having any tyres moving forward as the timescale for the Hankook tyre production to resume was unknown,” said Nicolas Caillol, the chief figure responsible for FRegional Oceania at its organising company Toyota Gazoo Racing New Zealand.
“We had to act quickly and it made perfect sense for us to become a Pirelli customer for the 2024 and 2025 championships.
“We will be using exactly the same tyre – on the same chassis – as the FRegional European Championship so FRegional Oceania definitely has even greater significance moving forward for these competitors.
“The drivers will be able to learn both chassis and tyre extremely well during the 3,000km of testing, qualifying and racing that form our championship each year and will of course gain a huge advantage ahead of the season beginning in Europe.”
TGR NZ will provide a base set-up for teams to use with the Pirelli rubber since they have done running on them with their test car.
The biggest team on the 2024 grid right now is M2 Competition, who have signed four drivers while no rival has more than two cars entered so far. Gerrard Xie and new Alpine junior Niko Lacorte are M2’s latest signings.
Xie dominated Chinese Formula 4 as a single-seater rookie last year, winning 12 races and claiming seven poles. One of his two races losses was the Macau Grand Prix, which he finished second in.
He also dominated the Fomula Renault Super Challenge, and this year raced in GB3 where he came 20th in the standings after winning the season finale. The 17-year-old gained Formula 3-level experience in a Euroformula cameo at Spa-Francorchamps.
Lacorte stepped up from karting to cars for the final three rounds of the 2022 Italian F4 season, scoring on his debut, then joined Prema for the whole 2023 campaign. He finished third, took a win and then a pole in round one, but his form then dipped drastically and he came ninth in the standings. Last week he was signed to the Alpine Academy.