Ngatoa holds off Bilinski for FRegional Oceania win

Photo: TGR NZ

Kaleb Ngatoa resisted race-long pressure from Roman Bilinski to win the third Formula Regional Oceania race at Hampton Downs.

He was just 0.389 seconds ahead of Bilinski at the chequered flag in a relatively drama-free race. After a heavy accident in race two, Gerrard Xie missed the final race of the weekend and so Ngatoa inherited his second place on the grid.

Ngatoa took the lead early on after a lock-up for Bilinski allowed him to get alongside the poleman. He spent the first laps pulling away from the rest of the field, setting the fastest lap in the process. But this would not last long.

Bilinski picked up the pace midway through the race and started to close back in on Ngatoa. The championship leader took back the fastest lap, setting a new lap record as he closed in on Ngatoa. However he could not find a way past the leader.

For the remainder of the race, Bilinski tried to force a mistake, but Ngatoa did not put a wheel wrong to come home in first place.

Behind them, the rest of the field had seperated into pairs for much of the race. Nico Lacorte challenged Michael Shin for third early on, but Shin managed to shake off the race two winner, while Lacorte had a gap of 2.6s back to fifth place.

Liam Sceats beat Patrick Woods-Toth to that position, with Tommy Smith not far behind in seventh. Alex Crosbie, Titus Sherlock and Kaden Probst completed the top 10.

Race results (23 laps)