Home Formula RegionalFRegional Oceania Lindblad remains ahead in FRegional Oceania’s Hampton Downs practice

Lindblad remains ahead in FRegional Oceania’s Hampton Downs practice

by Ida Wood

Photo: Bruce Jenkins / TGR NZ

M2 Competition’s Arvid Lindblad was quickest in Formula Regional Oceania practice at Hampton Downs on Friday.

There were three half-hour sessions, and it was very close at the top in FP1. On his final flying lap, MTEC Motorsport’s Zack Scoular set a 1m28.736s to go fastest by 0.087 seconds over Lindblad. His team-mate Nikita Johnson then improved as he met the chequered flag, and got within 0.082s of Scoular.

Josh Pierson was 0.288s slower than Scoular in fourth, and MTEC team-mate Patrick Heuzenroeder was a third of a second back in fifth. Giles Motorsport’s Will Brown was another last-lap improver and trailed by 0.405s in sixth, with the top 11 covered by 0.861s. Scoular and Johnson both set their personal bests for the day in FP1.

The pace was slower in FP2, with a 1m29.155s enough to put Brown on top. He edged Heuzenroeder by 0.02s and Scoular by 0.191s, while Pierson, Kiwi Motorsport’s Jett Bowling, Johnson and Lindblad were also within half a second of Brown’s pace. Bowling and Giles’s Barrett Wolfe down in 16th were the only drivers whose fastest laps came in FP2.

The majority improved in FP3, as Lindblad lowered the pace to 1m28.467s. Brown was his closest rival with a 1m28.833s, enough to put him in fourth place overall behind Scoular and Johnson.

Heuzenroeder and Pierson were next up and the last drivers to break the 1m29s barrier, and Giles’s Alex Crosbie posted a 1m29.045s late on be seventh fastest overall in practice. In the combined classification less than a second covered the top 14, with Lindblad’s closest title rival Zagazeta all the way down in 14th.

Free practice results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Arvid Lindblad M2 Competition 1m28.467s 37
2 Zack Scoular MTEC Motorsport 1m28.736s +0.269s 40
3 Nikita Johnson M2 Competition 1m28.818s +0.351s 45
4 Will Brown Giles Motorsport 1m28.833s +0.366s 45
5 Patrick Heuzenroeder MTEC Motorsport 1m28.882s +0.415s 46
6 Josh Pierson MTEC Motorsport 1m28.902s +0.435s 43
7 Alex Crosbie Giles Motorsport 1m29.045s +0.578s 45
8 Sebastian Manson M2 Competition 1m29.098s +0.631s 42
9 Michael Shin M2 Competition 1m29.163s +0.696s 40
10 Nicholas Monteiro MTEC Motorsport 1m29.181s +0.714s 42
11 Enzo Yeh M2 Competition 1m29.210s +0.743s 41
12 Shawn Rashid MTEC Motorsport 1m29.415s +0.948s 49
13 Nicolas Stati Kiwi Motorsport 1m29.419s +0.952s 44
14 Matias Zagazeta M2 Competition 1m29.419s +0.952s 42
15 Jett Bowling Kiwi Motorsport 1m29.496s +1.029s 40
16 James Lawley Kiwi Motorsport 1m30.093s +1.626s 37
17 Barrett Wolfe Giles Motorsport 1m30.641s +2.174s 45