Oceania’s top single-seater championship, formerly known as the Toyota Racing Series, is returning for a second year under the Formula Regional Oceania Championship name. As always, it has attracted a number of international drivers to the Southern Hemisphere looking to prepare for their seasons ahead, with a notably increased presence from drivers on the American junior ladder.

By Juan Arroyo

Formula Regional Oceania’s machinery will have two notable changes from last year: a switch to Pirelli tyres from Hankooks, and a change in fuel suppliers to P1 Fuels. As TGR NZ manager Nicolas Caillol told Feeder Series, Toyota has been working to make motorsport more sustainable in New Zealand, beginning with a switch to synthetic fuels for the championship’s Toyota FT-60s.

Charlie Wurz, FROC’s 2023 title winner, joined Jenzer Motorsport for post-season testing in F3 in October and the Macau Grand Prix in November. At the time of writing, Wurz’s 2024 plans have not been confirmed, but the Austrian has been rumoured to be stepping up to F3 with the team.

Since the series’ rebranding to Formula Regional Oceania, it has seen a notable increase of entries from the American junior ladder. This has been aided by a partnership between FROC organisers TGR NZ and the USF Pro Championships promoter Andersen Promotions that began in 2019 formed a partnership to reduce costs for drivers on the  pathway to IndyCar looking to gain experience in the winter months.

Under the terms of the partnership, the FROC entry fee of approximately $7,500 NZ ($4,600 US) is waived for the top three finishers in USF Pro 2000, USF2000 and USF Juniors. Drivers who commit to competing in all five rounds of FROC, meanwhile, have their entry fees waived for either the two-day fall combine at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in October 2023 or the two-day spring training at NOLA Motorsports Park in February 2024, both of which feature all three USF series.

The calendar

This year’s championship will see 15 races spread across five race weekends. The first three rounds will be held on New Zealand’s North Island, while the South Island will play host to the final two rounds.

Teretonga Park Raceway, which held the second round of last year’s championship, has been dropped for Euromarque Motorsport Park, better known as Ruapuna, which returns to the calendar for the first time since 2018. The season finale will be the 68th edition of the New Zealand Grand Prix, which will be held at Highlands Motorsport Park for the first time in the race’s history.

• Round 1: Taupo International Motorsport Park (19–21 January)
• Round 2: Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon (26–28 January)
• Round 3: Hampton Downs Motorsport Park (2–4 February)
• Round 4: Euromarque Motorsport Park (9–11 February)
• Round 5: Highlands Motorsport Park (16–18 February)

The format

Running begins on Thursday with two 30-minute sessions designated for pre-event testing. Then on Friday, a further three 30-minute sessions of official practice are held ahead of the weekend. Qualifying is divided into two 15-minute sessions held on Saturday and Sunday respectively; the first determines the grid for race one, while the second does the same for race three. The grid for the second race is determined by reversing the top eight finishers from the first race.

Formula Regional Oceania rounds are divided into three races. The winner of races one and three is awarded 35 points, with every finisher down to 20th place being awarded points. The winner of race two is awarded 20 points, with points going to the top 15 finishers. There are no additional points given for fastest lap or pole position.

The first and second races will cover 75 kilometres, while the third race is slightly longer, covering 90 kilometres.

At the fifth and final round, which includes the New Zealand Grand Prix, qualifying is divided into three stages. The exact number of drivers eliminated in Q1 and Q2 will depend on the number of entries, but the fastest eight drivers at the end of Q2 will progress to Q3.

Where to watch

Live streams of all Formula Regional Oceania qualifying sessions and races are available on Motorsport.tv. Live timing of all sessions can be found at RaceHero or FG91Motorsport. Local television broadcasters including Three and Sky Sport also provide coverage of the championship.

Teams and drivers

M2 Competition

M2 Competition have been far and away the dominant force in FROC in recent years, fielding the title-winning driver in the past five editions of the championship. Teammates Wurz and Callum Hedge battled for the championship in 2023, finishing the five-round championship far ahead of the rest of the grid. Last season, five of the top seven drivers in the final points standings were part of the M2 outfit.

Roman Bilinski (#4) will lead the year’s line-up with two seasons’ worth of experience behind him in FRECA. Despite a strong GB3 campaign in 2021, Bilinski has struggled for form in Formula Regional machinery, achieving just one podium after two years competing. However, with 40 races under his belt in the European championship the Polish driver undoubtedly enters the Oceania championship as a favourite for the title.

Recently announced Alpine academy driver Nicola Lacorte (#7) enters his first Formula Regional series ahead of a planned FRECA campaign with Trident. The Italian driver steps up to Formula Regional after finishing ninth in both the Italian F4 and Euro 4 standings with Prema.

Also debuting in the category is Gerrard Xie (#39). The 2022 Chinese F4 champion, Xie had a tougher 2023, finishing 20th in a GB3 campaign with Hitech and taking two eighth places in a a one-off appearance in Euroformula Open.

Michael Shin (#16) joins as one of the few drivers on the grid with F3 experience. The Korean driver contested the final three rounds of the season with PHM Racing and managed a best finish of 17th in F3 at Monza. Like Xie, Shin participated full-time in GB3 in 2023, finishing 18th in the standings.

Liam Sceats (#23), the lone New Zealander in the line-up, is also the only M2 Competition driver with previous experience in the championship. Sceats established himself as a front-runner in his rookie campaign in 2023, scoring three podiums across the season, and later went on to fight for the Formula Regional Japanese Championship title, ultimately finishing in second place. The 18-year-old’s run of good form and previous experience in FROC could establish him quickly as a championship contender.

Kiwi Motorsport

The team formerly known as Victory Motor Racing has been in the championship since its inception in 2005, winning the championship once in 2017 with Thomas Randle. Kiwi Motorsport’s strongest runner in 2023 was Jacob Abel; now set to run in Indy NXT, the American finished third in the standings with four podiums to his name.

This year, the team will have an all-rookie line-up with drivers it fields in the United States, where the team operates in partnership with Crosslink in the F4 US and Formula Regional Americas championships.

Canadian Patrick Woods-Toth (#14) heads to New Zealand as the newly crowned F4 US champion. The 19-year-old put on a dominant display throughout 2023, taking four wins and ten more podiums acrosss six rounds on his way to claim the title by 82.5 points.

His closest rival in that series was teammate Titus Sherlock (#31), who is also set to join Kiwi Motorsport in Formula Regional Oceania over the next five weeks. The 19-year-old took two wins and two more podiums but, like Woods-Toth, finished outside the top 10 only once.

Jett Bowling (#22) will tackle his first full championship in cars in Formula Regional Oceania. Bowling, 18, was also part of the 2023 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport setup in F4 US, but only from the third round onwards. He  scored a single point in the part-time campaign.

Jake Bonilla (#20) last completed a full season of racing in 2022, running with DEForce Racing in USF Juniors to finish ninth in the standings. In 2023, Bonilla stepped up to the Formula Regional Americas championship, but only for a single weekend at the Circuit of The Americas, like the rest of his winter teammates, with Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport.

Giles Motorsport

Former McLaren F1 chief mechanic Stephen Giles’ team has been a presence on the Formula Regional Oceania grid since 2008, fielding a number of drivers who have gone on to become notable alumni of the championship – Nick Cassidy, Mitch Evans, Alex Lynn, Nicholas Latifi and Devlin DeFrancesco to name a few. In 2023, Giles driver Louis Foster managed a win on debut and three podiums across three rounds.

F3 podium finisher Christian Mansell (#71) is without a doubt the standout name on this year’s grid. Mansell claimed two podiums – one in exceptionally difficult weather conditions at Spa-Francorchamps – for Campos Racing in F3 last year in standout drives. Though his campaign lacked consistency, his speed took him to 12th in the final points standings. He is only confirmed for the first two rounds of the season and will almost certainly miss the fourth round to participate in F3’s pre-season test in Bahrain with ART Grand Prix, making a title challenge unlikely.

Kaleb Ngatoa (#15) will be the most experienced driver in the grid, having been in single-seaters since 2016. The New Zealand driver first participated in the championship in 2021, when it was known as the Toyota Racing Series, and claimed second place in a comparatively reduced full-time grid. Ngatoa participated in only two FROC rounds in 2023, winning a race on the New Zealand Grand Prix weekend and claiming another podium in Taupo.

The team will also field two drivers with comparatively less car racing experience. One is Landan Matriano Lim (#739), who completed his first season of single-seater racing last year in F4 US with the Jensen team and came 35th.

The other rookie is  Alex Crosbie (#41), who won the last two editions of the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship and took seven race victories on the way to the title in 2023.

MTEC Motorsport

Family-run MTEC Motorsport is returning to Formula Regional Oceania after they were forced to pull out of the 2023 championship when drivers originally signed to the team withdrew from their programmes.

F3 driver Tommy Smith (#6) headlines MTEC’s line-up, though the Australian only plans to compete in the first three rounds of the championship. Smith competed in the 2019 edition of the Toyota Racing Series with Giles Motorsport, finishing 14th in the standings. He was scoreless in his 2023 F3 campaign with Van Amersfoort Racing, managing a best result of 12th in the Melbourne feature race. He will return to race with the Dutch outfit after completing the partial FROC campaign.

Lucas Fecury (#5) is returning for a second campaign in New Zealand to partner his upcoming USF2000 season with DEForce Racing. Last year, Fecury finished 15th in the Formula Regional Oceania standings with Kiwi Motorsport and managed best finishes of 10th four times at Highlands and Teretonga. In a full-time USF Juniors campaign with DEForce, Fecury scored one podium on the way to ninth in the standings.

MTEC Motorsport will also field two rookies this season. Elliott Cleary (#19), the second-youngest driver on the grid at 17 years old, has experience in Formula Ford and Trans Am racing in Australia.

Fellow rookie Kaden Probst (#48) steps up from New Zealand Formula Open’s Graeme Lawrence Cup class, which features the FT-50s used in the Toyota Racing Series from 2015 to 2019.

Header photo credit: Toyota Gazoo Racing New Zealand