Photo: Bruce Jenkins / TGR NZ
Arvid Lindblad pipped Zack Scoular to pole for the first Formula Regional Oceania race of the weekend at Hampton Downs.
It was MTEC Motorsport driver Zack Scoular who started qualifying one on top, before M2 Competition’s Michael Shin beat his opening benchmark.
More representative laptimes came next time by, and Scoular’s early exit from the pits meant he was among the first to cross the timing line again. He returned to the top with a 1m30.247s, leading team-mate Josh Pierson by just 0.036 seconds before both were bettered by a surprise 1m29.928s effort from Nicholas Monteiro. However the Brazilian would then not improve on that, instead heading to the pits and ending qualifying down in 15th.
It was a similar story with the next laps, as Scoular again laid down a time for the rest to beat – in this case a 1m28.948s – and Pierson was his closest rival until Patrick Heuzenroeder, another of MTEC’s drivers, posted a 1m28.830s. Monteiro quickly dropped down to ninth.
Scoular then improved to 1m28.496s to lead Pierson by 0.103s, and this time it was Lindblad who was able to topple him. M2’s championship leader went quickest by 0.031s, with Giles Motorsport’s Will Brown and M2’s Matias Zagazeta trailing by 0.134s and 0.173s.
With five minutes remaining, Scoular and Pierson had already completed their fifth laps and moved back ahead. Just 0.074s split them, as Scoular lowered the pace to 1m28.311s. Lindblad improved but was now third, with team-mate Nikita Johnson not far behind.
It was Scoular who then failed to improve next, and Pierson nabbed provisional pole with a 1m28.184s lap. Scoular got within 0.004s of him with one-and-a-half minutes to go, but then both were bettered by Lindblad. He went to the top by 0.11s, and new personal bests from Brown and Zagazeta put them fourth and fifth.
There was time for one more flying lap, and Scoular found more pace but came 0.059s shy of Lindblad’s best. M2’s Michael Shin jumped up to fifth, Heuzenroeder climbed one spot to sixth and non-improvers Zagazeta and Johnson fell to seventh and eighth.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arvid Lindblad | M2 Competition | 1m28.074s | 8 | |
| 2 | Zack Scoular | MTEC Motorsport | 1m28.133s | +0.059s | 9 |
| 3 | Josh Pierson | MTEC Motorsport | 1m28.184s | +0.110s | 9 |
| 4 | Will Brown | Giles Motorsport | 1m28.296s | +0.222s | 9 |
| 5 | Michael Shin | M2 Competition | 1m28.398s | +0.324s | 9 |
| 6 | Patrick Heuzenroeder | MTEC Motorsport | 1m28.414s | +0.340s | 9 |
| 7 | Matias Zagazeta | M2 Competition | 1m28.463s | +0.389s | 9 |
| 8 | Nikita Johnson | M2 Competition | 1m28.468s | +0.394s | 8 |
| 9 | Sebastian Manson | M2 Competition | 1m28.719s | +0.645s | 8 |
| 10 | Enzo Yeh | M2 Competition | 1m28.735s | +0.661s | 8 |
| 11 | Alex Crosbie | Giles Motorsport | 1m28.757s | +0.683s | 8 |
| 12 | Shawn Rashid | MTEC Motorsport | 1m28.862s | +0.788s | 9 |
| 13 | Jett Bowling | Kiwi Motorsport | 1m29.051s | +0.977s | 8 |
| 14 | Nicolas Stati | Kiwi Motorsport | 1m29.757s | +1.723s | 8 |
| 15 | Nicholas Monteiro | MTEC Motorsport | 1m29.928s | +1.854s | 3 |
| 16 | Barrett Wolfe | Giles Motorsport | 1m29.948s | +1.874s | 8 |
| 17 | James Lawley | Kiwi Motorsport | 1m30.296s | +2.222s | 8 |