Ngatoa wins his first race back in Formula Regional Oceania

Photo: TGR NZ

Kaleb Ngatoa won on his first Formula Regional Oceania start for nearly two years after a fast getaway in race one at Hampton Downs.

Starting from the outside of the front row alongside series debutant Laurens van Hoepen, Ngatoa got a great launch to lead comfortably into the first corner.

Ngatoa’s advantage was soon above one second, and although van Hoepen closed back in during the second half of the race, the Giles Motorsport driver was able to respond.

There was a slight scare on the last lap when Ngatoa’s car twitched under braking for the downhill Dipper hairpin when van Hoepen showed his nose to the inside, but the 2021 Toyota Racing Series runner-up was able to hold on.

Callum Hedge ran a lonely third throughout to retake the championship lead by three points over Charlie Wurz, who had a challenging drive to eighth.

The inexperienced Adam Fitzgerald, in only his second weekend in FRegional, held off race-long attention from Kiwi racing veteran Chris van der Drift to finish fourth.

Louis Foster was running ahead of Fitzgerald in fourth early on but was battling a clutch issue that caused him to slip down the order before retiring.

Another returnee Brendon Leitch took sixth ahead of Jacob Abel, with Wurz just holding off Ryder Quinn for eighth. Wurz had fallen from seventh to 10th on the first lap, and then had a big lock up when he tried to dive down the inside of the struggling Foster at the Dipper on lap four.

From sixth on the grid, Liam Sceats was challenging Hedge for third in the early corners but found himself shuffled back to ninth by the end of lap two, and finished up 11th behind David Morales.

Race results (20 laps)