Photo: Bruce Jenkins
M2 Competition’s Sebastian Manson won Formula Regional Oceania’s reversed-grid race at Teretonga thanks to a lightning start.
Manson shared the front row with team-mate Enzo Yeh, who he passed off the line. MTEC Motorsport’s Zack Scoular leapt from fourth to second past Yeh, and team-mate Patrick Heuzenroeder also cleared him too.
Josh Pierson meanwhile dropped from third to fifth, and exiting the long opening corner there was drama as James Lawley went off, lost control and hit out Kiwi Motorsport team-mate Jett Bowling as he spun back onto the track.
That led to the safety car being called out and then red flags waving on lap three, with the race later restarting behind the safety car on lap four. Green flags waved once more on lap six, and Arvid Lindblad swept around the outside of M2 team-mate Matias Zagazeta at turn one for sixth.
Manson ended the first full lap of racing 0.455 seconds ahead of Scoular, then the safety car was summoned again due to Kiwi’s Nicolas Stati going off at turn one. He had headed into the gravel after a three-wide moment with Giles Motorsport’s Tommy Smith and M2’s Michael Shin.
The next restart was on lap 13, and Scoular tried to find room on the inside at turn two. Lindblad eyed up another turn one move but thought better of it on Pierson, who himself was soon attacking Yeh.
Shin successfully passed Giles’ Alex Crosbie for ninth, and Lindblad cleared Pierson as they started lap 14 but the latter kept his foot planted on the throttle and was able to nose back ahead exiting turn one.
Manson’s lead was again just under half a second, a gap he maintained until lap 23 of 25 when both Scoular and Heuzenroeder closed in. There was light pressure thereon, but nobody got close enough to each other to think about overtaking and Manson claimed his second victory of 2025 by 0.48s.
Lindblad grew his points lead by finishing sixth, as title rival and team-mate Nikita Johnson came home eighth.
Race results (25 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Manson | M2 Competition | 28m04.877s |
| 2 | Zack Scoular | MTEC Motorsport | +0.480s |
| 3 | Patrick Heuzenroeder | MTEC Motorsport | +0.997s |
| 4 | Enzo Yeh | M2 Competition | +1.647s |
| 5 | Josh Pierson | MTEC Motorsport | +1.984s |
| 6 | Arvid Lindblad | M2 Competition | +2.659s |
| 7 | Matias Zagazeta | M2 Competition | +3.200s |
| 8 | Nikita Johnson | M2 Competition | +5.332s |
| 9 | Michael Shin | M2 Competition | +6.184s |
| 10 | Alex Crosbie | Giles Motorsport | +6.951s |
| 11 | Tommy Smith | Giles Motorsport | +7.721s |
| 12 | Nicholas Monteiro | MTEC Motorsport | +8.555s |
| 13 | Shawn Rashid | MTEC Motorsport | +12.531s |
| 14 | Barrett Wolfe | Giles Motorsport | +14.701s |
| Ret | Nicolas Stati | Kiwi Motorsport | |
| Ret | Jett Bowling | Kiwi Motorsport | |
| Ret | James Lawley | Kiwi Motorsport | |
| Fastest lap: Pierson, 54.156s
Championship standings |
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