Zagazeta wins reversed-grid FRegional Oceania race at Taupo

Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing NZ

M2 Competition’s Matias Zagazeta won Formula Regional Oceania’s reversed-grid race at Taupo.

Much of the race’s drama occurred in the opening moments, with MTEC Motorsport’s Josh Pierson slow off the line from pole and almost being hit by M2’s fast-starting Michael Shin. After putting two wheels into the grass, Shin made it to turn one but then had to go wide at turn two and dropped to sixth.

Zagazeta went from fourth into the lead, ahead of team-mate and front-row starter Enzo Yeh, with Pierson third ahead of M2’s Arvid Lindblad. Furrther back, Kiwi Motorsport’s Nicolas Stati struck trouble and was going slowly, while Giles Motorsport’s Alex Crosbie spun and Jett Bowling (Kiwi) had to take avoiding action.

Yeh, the only driver on fresh tyres, was all over Zagazeta through the rest of lap one but had a five-second penalty for jumping the start.

Zagazeta had two thirds of a second in hand over Yeh after three laps, but then his chaser set the fastest lap. The same swing occurred on lap six, followed by Yeh setting another fastest lap next time by, and he brought the gap down to 0.357s after lowering the pace further on lap nine of 18.

Two laps later there was half a second between them again, and Zagazeta pulled away further after Yeh had a huge lock-up going into the final chicane on lap 13. He pushed hard in the remaining laps to close back to within 0.37s of Zagazeta, enough to earn him fourth place.

“It’s a very good result. Had a really good start, and from then onwards was struggling a lot with the tyres. Enzo behind had really good tyres, and I knew he had a penalty but I still wanted to win on-track. It was pretty fun, very cool,” commented Zagazeta afterwards. “The car feels fantastic. I’m feeling super confident for the afternoon.”

Pierson inherited second after a lengthy defence against Lindblad. A third of the way through the race they began to be gapped by the top two, and Pierson had to cover off his pursuer at turn one on lap seven. Lindblad launched another attack at the turn 11 hairpin, then drew alongside down the back straight but could not make anything of it.

A sideways moment and lock-up for Lindblad and briefly holding fastest lap meant Pierson broke away slightly, but Lindblad then set the fastest lap to close back in.

He was pressuring again by lap 14, and a lap later attempted moves at each of the first three corners but was unsuccessful. Now a six-car queue had formed, and Pierson locked up at the hairpin on the penultimate lap. Nobody had the tyre life to overtake though, and he held on ahead of new points leader Lindblad.

“[Standing starts is] something I’m not used to,” said Pierson. “It was tough to keep [Lindblad] behind. He was really quick.”

Nikita Johnson resisted team-mate Shin, who held the fastest lap at race-end, for fifth place.

Race results (18 laps)