Xie wins FRegional Oceania’s safety car-filled reversed-grid race

Photo: TGR NZ

Gerrard Xie beat Roman Bilinski to victory in the second Formula Regional Oceania race of the season at Taupo. 

Two safety car periods disrupted running in the reversed-grid, both times negating Alex Crosbie’s effort to build a lead at the front of the field. After the final restart, Crosbie didn’t have the pace left to pull away from Xie, and he dropped to third by the chequered flag. 

Crosbie led for most of the race. The Giles Motorsport driver got a good start from the pole position spot to pull away from Tommy Smith in second. 

Smith struggled off the line and had dropped back to fourth, behind Liam Sceats and Xie, before the first safety car period. Further down the order, Titus Sherlock and Nicola Lacorte came together. Sherlock was left stranded in the gravel with damaged suspension. 

Racing resumed with 11 laps remaining. Crosbie got the jump on Sceats in second and immediately began to pull away. His charge didn’t last long, however. Kaden Probst and Lucas Fecury were battling for position when the two came together and Fecury was sent off into the gravel. 

Moments before the incident, Xie had snatched second place from Sceats, which meant the he was directly behind Crosbie when the safety car was brought out.

When the track turned green again, Crosbie wasn’t able to pull away from Xie, but the two had a small gap to Sceats in third. Xie kept the pressure on the leader, who put up a good defence. That only allowed the charging Roman Bilinski to close in on them.

After winning race one, Bilinski had started eighth but rapidly made up positions. He was fifth by the final safety car period, and quickly picked off Smith and Sceats on the restart.  

Soon, the top three were running nose-to-tail. With three laps remaining, Xie found a way past Crosbie. Bilinski followed him past at the next corner, demoting the long-time leader to third. Bilinski ran out of laps before his charge could go any further, and he settled for second place and the points lead.

Christian Mansell, who had finished second to Bilinski in the opening race, ended his race two laps early after an incident. He had been battling Kaleb Ngatoa when the two came together and Mansell was sent off. His car was in a safe position, though, and the race was not neutralised early.

Liam Sceats finished fourth, just behind Crosbie. Patrick Wood-Toth put in an impressive drive from the penultimate spot on the grid to finish sixth, making up 11 positions in the 18-lap race.  

Despite the early incident, Lacorte had an equally impressive drive to finish just behind in seventh, also making up 11 places after starting from the back. Smith dropped back to eighth by the chequered flag, ahead of Michael Shin and Elliot Cleary.

Race result (18 laps)