Lindblad dominates FRegional Oceania’s Manfeild opener

Photo; Bruce Jenkins

M2 Competition’s Arvid Lindblad took another dominant win in the opening Formula Regional Oceania race at Manfeild.

It was a lights-to-flag success for Lindblad ahead of team-mate Nikita Johnson, but there was drama for the team before the race began as Michael Shin copped a three-place grid penalty and had to line up in 14th.

Lindblad had it easy at the start, while Giles Motorsport’s series returnee Tommy Smith made a great launch from fourth and attempt to overtake Johnson for second on the inside of turn one.

Johnson kept the position at the corner exit, then later in the lap MTEC Motorsport’s Josh Pierson pushed Smith out of the way to reclaim third. His team-mate Patrick Heuzenroeder also then had the opportunity to pass Smith, with M2’s Sebastian Manson following him through.

Smith made a great move on Smith to gain back one spot, and as they headed into lap three there was already a gap of over a second between Johnson and the rest of the chasing pack.

Zack Scoular passed MTEC team-mate Nicholas Monteiro for eighth place on lap three, then the order settled.

Although Lindblad was untouchable, the short length of the Manfeild circuit meant it took six laps for him to build his lead over Johnson to more than a second. Pierson gradually gapped himself from Heuzenroeder too, and managed to close back in on Johnson as the 22-lap race approached its halfway point.

Once Johnson switched his attention to Pierson, it helped Lindblad pull two seconds clear and then even further up the road. By the finish, he was nearly six seconds ahead.

Smith also kept Heuzenroeder honest, but could not get past, although both moved ahead of Pierson after the finish as he copped a five-second penalty.

There was minimal overtaking after lap three, although Enzo Yeh dropped from 12th to 14th behind M2 team-mate Matias Zagazeta and MTEC’s Shawn Rashid on lap 19.

Race results (22 laps)