Photo: TGR NZ / Joel Hanks
M2 Competition’s Freddie Slater and Ugo Ugochukwu were victorious in Formula Regional Oceania’s races at Teretonga last weekend.
The track was wet for race one on Saturday, meaning everyone headed out on grooved tyres. The formation lap did little to displace water, and when M2’s poleman Ernesto Rivera reached the opening corner he spun off as soon as he turned in.
Slater inherited the lead, and Hitech GP’s Kalle Rovanpera had made the best start from third but was boxed in so was still in that position after turn one and now behind team-mate Jin Nakamura.
The safety car was brought out as Rivera’s car was recovered, and due to the shortness of the circuit it meant the restart was not until lap six of 25. Slater nailed it, building a 1.345-second lead within a lap and extending it to 4.2s after just two more tours.
He was 7.7s ahead of Nakamura when the safety car was called out again on lap 15, as HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed’s Trevor LaTourrette spun off (but going again) and MTEC Motorsport’s Zack Scoular planted his car in the barriers.
Kiwi Motorsport’s Yevan David then went off too, ending a brilliant charge. He had bogged down at the start, dropping to last place, but recovered to 13th on the restart lap, nailed a pass on MTEC’s Yuanpu Cui around the outside of turn three on lap 13 and had then cleared M2’s Sebastian Manson for 10th before crashing out.
Six laps remained at the second restart, and Slater once again pulled away as the track got wetter again. He was 3.1s clear within two laps, and had a five-second gap before the safety car returned with a lap to go after Giles Motorsport’s Nolan Allaer crashed going through turn one. That locked in the finishing order, and therefore victory for Slater.
Jack Taylor (Giles) had taken fifth from Cooper Shipman (Kiwi) with a great move around the outside of turn one on lap nine, while MTEC’s Ryan Wood held seventh at that point. The attacks of Fionn McLaughlin on him instead made the Hitech driver vulnerable to Ugochukwu, and they were at a fighting stalemate until Ugochukwu overtook McLaughlin on lap 14.
He rapidly then made his way onto the rear of Wood’s car, and on the lap 20 restart go alongside him on the outside at turn one but could not pull off the move.
Race two was scheduled for later in the day and also very wet, and Ugochukwu started in first place on the reversed grid thanks to his earlier eighth place finish. A lot of time was spent sat in the grid spot as sweepers tried to remove water from the circuit, then the race was abandoned.
The paddock reconvened the next day to find a wet track again, and qualifying two was the first session.
Le set the pace early on, then Slater was first into the 1m03s. He was usurped by Le, who set a 1m03.402s to then lead Ugochukwu by 0.248s. MTEC’s Louis Sharp was next to the top, by 0.056s, before Le reclaimed top spot once again by lapping sub-1m03s. Shortly after he was down to third as Slater set a 1m02.105s and Ugochukwu went second fastest 0.497s behind him.
Nakamura reduced Slater’s advantage to 0.088s with nine minutes to go, only for the provisional poleman to improve to 1m01.881s and stay ahead by 0.066s over Ugochukwu.
Several drivers had offs, including Slater who caused a red flag period as he could not get his car going again after a clash with LaTourrette.
Both were able to join the field when qualifying restarted, and the next moment of drama was Wood having a big off with four minutes to go. That proved non-disruptive, but Manson and McLaughlin then crashed and red flags waved again. The schedule left no time for another restart, and Slater secured pole for the Spirit of a Nation Cup-awarding race four.
Le qualified third, 0.248s off pole and 0.064s ahead of Nakamura, and Sharp and Scoular set identical laptimes in fifth and sixth. Rovanpera trailed by 0.597s in seventh, Wood was 10th and McLaughlin was 11th.
Race two took place at the expense of race three, and it was still wet at Teretonga by the time it began. Ugochukwu was untouchable throughout, although disruptions to the race made his victory look less dominant.
On lap one he sprinted off, as Slater’s victory hopes ended through contact with Le that sent both spinning off before turn seven. The safety car was summoned as they were helped back on track, and they were several laps down at the back of the pack when racing resumed on lap seven.
Ugochukwu built a 2.86s gap over Wood in two laps, and had a six-second margin before his lead was slashed again when LaTourrette crashed and the safety car reappeared on lap 14. When the field returned to racing speeds at the end of lap 19, Nakamura crashed out of sixth place and so the lap 20 restart only lasted long enough for Shipman to nab third from Taylor.
In the green flag action up until that point, Shipman had been attacked almost non-stop by Rovanpera. He was stronger in the wet conditions and was happy to slide his car as he looked to the left and right of Shipman, and often running right up to his gearbox too.
Once Nakamura’s car was cleared, the field got to race again on the last lap. Ugochukwu built a 1.698s lead and stole the fastest lap from Slater, Shipman attacked Taylor around the outside of turn one and Rovanpera settled for fifth.
The track had dried enough for slick tyres in race four. Problems on the pre-grid meant Le did not get to sample the dry conditions, but once he was wheeled off and the formation lap was complete there were spots of rain again and the start was delayed.
When the lights eventually did go out, Ugochukwu made a stronger launch than poleman Slater but his rival had the inside line so lead into turn one. Ugochukwu then got on the marbles exiting the corner and drifted wide, allowing Scoular by. But Scoular then had his own understeering moment that brought Ugochukwu back up to second, and he kept the position as the safety car was called out due to Rivera crashing.
Sharp ended lap one in third, ahead of Nakamura, Cui and David. They were all gapped by Slater on the lap seven restart, but Ugochukwu eventually responded to the leader and on lap 10 set a new lap record as he closed back in.
They were nose-to-tail again on lap 14 after Slater had a brief off, but both were making errors on the slippy track surface.
Ugochukwu used push-to-pass to help him go around the outside of Slater entering turn one on lap 16, getting the move done early enough to not drift onto the marbles, then Slater went off briefly again at turn five where it was raining.
Sharp was all over Slater through lap 17, and the safety car came out next time by as Manson crashed out and the rain intensified. Red flags waved on lap 20, and everyone got to switch to grooved tyres during the half-hour stoppage.
The race restarted behind the safety car on lap 21, and green flags waved on lap 24 of 29. There was drama immediately as Ugochukwu found the marbles on the wider line through turn one again and he went off. After avoiding the barriers he made it back on track but was now last, while Slater led with a 1.975s gap to Sharp.
It was a dominant display thereon, as Slater was victorious by 5.129s and Ugochukwu’s points lead was greatly reduced as he finished 14th.
Nakamura completed the podium, boosting his own title hopes, and Cui was fourth. Scoular had a dramatic race, finishing sixth on-the-road, being involved in multiple battles but then being penalised for a restart breach so was classified 11th.
Results round-up
Race 1 (25 laps)
1 Freddie Slater M2 Competition 35m30.113s
2 Jin Nakamura Hitech GP +1.088s
3 Kalle Rovanpera Hitech GP +2.138s
4 Kanato Le Hitech GP +2.882s
5 Jack Taylor Giles Motorsport +3.680s
6 Cooper Shipman Kiwi Motorsport +4.458s
7 Ryan Wood MTEC Motorsport +6.475s
8 Ugo Ugochukwu M2 Competition +7.183s
9 Fionn McLaughlin Hitech GP +8.090s
10 Sebastian Manson M2 Competition +8.645s
Fastest lap: Slater, 1m01.538s
Race 2 (24 laps)
1 Ugochukwu 39m29.231s
2 Wood +1.698s
3 Shipman +2.743s
4 Taylor +3.138s
5 Rovanpera +3.250s
6 Manson +3.908s
7 McLaughlin +4.254s
8 Louis Sharp MTEC Motorsport +5.739s
9 Yuanpu Cui MTEC Motorsport +6.597s
10 Yevan David Kiwi Motorsport +7.841s
FL: Ugochukwu, 59.683s
Spirit of a Nation Cup results (29 laps)
1 Slater 38m33.082s
2 Sharp +5.129s
3 Nakamura +5.731s
4 Cui +8.945s
5 David +9.725s
6 McLaughlin +11.333s
7 Rovanpera +12.181s
8 Wood +12.846s
9 Taylor +13.104s
10 Ricardo Baptista HMD w/ TJ Speed +14.653s
P: Slater, 1m01.881s
FL: Ugochukwu, 53.660s
Championship standings
1 Ugochukwu 237 2 Slater 215 3 Nakamura 211 4 Sharp 207 5 Wood 202 6 Le 185 7 Zack Scoular 135 8 Ernesto Rivera 124 9 Cui 120 10 James Wharton 113