New Zealand’s flagship junior single-seater series returns for its 20th season this weekend and its third under the Formula Regional Oceania banner. Feeder Series tells you everything you need to know about the 2025 FR Oceania season.

By Kaylene Lau

Last season, M2 Competition’s Roman Bilinski took the overall title with six wins and 385 points. New Zealand driver Liam Sceats finished second in the championship, while Patrick Woods-Toth placed third and won the rookie championship. 

FR Oceania takes place during New Zealand’s warmer summer months, when racing is sparse in the northern hemisphere.  It has become an attractive winter series option for drivers based in Europe and North America to get additional preparation for other series in which they will participate later in the year. The series also provides valuable Super Licence points, with 18 points for the champion down to one point for the ninth-placed driver in the championship.

The series has seen an increase in drivers from the United States since Toyota Gazoo Racing, the organisers of FR Oceania, partnered with Andersen Promotions, the organisers of the USF Pro Championships, in 2019. This partnership offers the top three drivers in USF Juniors, USF2000 or USF Pro 2000 a waived entry fee for FR Oceania of $NZ 7,500 (approximately $4,250 US).

Additionally, drivers who competed in all five rounds of the previous FR Oceania season have their entry fees waived for either the two-day Chris Griffis Memorial Test in the fall or the two-day Spring Training test early in the current year. USF Juniors runs at the latter, while USF2000 and USF Pro 2000 run at both.

As they did last year, drivers will race the Tatuus FT-60 with Pirelli tyres. The championship will continue using fossil-free fuels, a change implemented last year that made FR Oceania the first FIA FR series to do so. 

The calendar

There will be five rounds on the calendar in 2025. There will be three races for each round, totalling 15 races across the season.

Teretonga Park Raceway returns to the calendar this year, initially intending to replace the round at Highlands Motorsport Park. Euromarque Motorsport Park, commonly called Ruapuna, was set to host the 69th New Zealand Grand Prix but was replaced by 2024 host Highlands and left off the calendar entirely. This means that Highlands will host the grand prix for only the second time in the race’s history.

• Round 1: Taupo Motorsport Park (10–12 January)
  
• Round 2: Hampton Downs Motorsport Park (17–19 January)
  
• Round 3: Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon (24–26 January)
  
• Round 4: Teretonga Park Raceway (31 January–2 February)
  
• Round 5: Highlands Motorsport Park (7–9 February) 

The format 

Two testing sessions will take place on Thursday, running for 30 minutes each. Three practice sessions are held on Friday, each of which run for 30 minutes. 

Qualifying is divided into two sessions, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Saturday’s qualifying sets the grid for race one, while Sunday’s qualifying sets the grid for race three. The grid for race two is set by reversing the top eight finishers of race one. 

Qualifying for the final round, which includes the 69th New Zealand Grand Prix, differs from the other rounds on the calendar. The session is split into three portions, the first part of which sets the grid for race one. Thereafter, drivers who have set the slowest lap times at the end of Q1 are unable to progress to Q2 and Q3, which set the rest of the grid for the grand prix. The number of drivers eliminated at the end of each segment of qualifying depends on the number of entries for the final round, but Q3 will consist of eight drivers who will fight for pole position.

Races one and two cover a distance of 70 kilometers each, while race three is slightly longer, covering 85 kilometers. The New Zealand Grand Prix will be even longer at almost 115 kilometres.

Races one and three will award slightly more points than race two, with the winner being awarded 35 points all the way down to one point for 20th place. The winner of the second race is awarded 25 points, with points going to the top 15 finishers. 

Where to watch

Sessions will be live-streamed on Stuff SpeedHub as part of the series’ new partnership with New Zealand media company Stuff. Live timing can be found on Mylaps Speedhive. 

Teams and drivers 

M2 Competition 

M2 Competition have largely dominated the championship in recent years, with the last six title-winning drivers all racing for the team. Last year’s champion Roman Bilinski and runner-up Liam Sceats both drove for M2 Competition, who will surely be looking to repeat their success this year. 

Red Bull junior driver Arvid Lindblad (#4) will join M2 Competition for his first FR Oceania season. Entering the championship as one of the clear favourites for the title, 17-year-old Lindblad spent 2024 in F3 with Prema, impressing immediately with a win on debut. The Briton finished his maiden F3 season fourth in the standings with a field-high four wins and will graduate to F2 with Campos in 2025. 

Likewise joining M2 Competition’s lineup is Matías Zagazeta (#8). Zagazeta also last raced in F3 with Jenzer Motorspprt in 2024 and will contest another season in the series in 2025, switching to DAMS, which took over the Swiss team’s entry. The 21-year-old took one podium in his maiden F3 season and finished 25th in the standings. Zagazeta’s entry into the championship this year will make him the first Peruvian driver in the championship’s 20-year history dating back to its days as the Toyota Racing Series.

American driver Nikita Johnson (#17) will join M2 Competition’s lineup this year. In 2024, Johnson raced in GB3 with VRD, finishing 11th in the championship with two wins, and also came second in USF Pro 2000 stateside with the same team. The 16-year-old is set to contest another season in GB3 in 2025, switching to Hitech GP. 

Returning to FR Oceania this year with M2 Competition is Michael Shin (#23). The 20-year-old finished fourth in the championship last season, taking one win and four further podiums. Last year Shin also raced in Eurocup-3 with Campos, finishing seventh, and in half of the Euroformula Open season, finishing sixth overall. The Korean driver is the highest-placed driver from 2024 returning to the series for 2025.

The lone New Zealander in M2 Competition’s lineup, Sebastian Manson (#69) will be contesting his first full season of FR Oceania this year ahead of a USF Pro 2000 campaign with TJ Speed. Having been too young to enter the start of the 2024 FR Oceania season, Manson, now 16, raced in the last two rounds with Giles Motorsport, taking a best finish of eighth in race two at Highlands Motorsport Park. Most recently, Manson finished second in the FR Japan standings with. He also competed in domestic FFord series in 2024, winning the South Island title the same weekend as the FR Oceania finale.

Enzo Yeh (#77) rounds out M2 Competition’s lineup for 2025. The 16-year-old will race in New Zealand for the first time in his career. Yeh last competed in Italian F4 with R-ace GP, finishing 23rd overall with six points. The Taiwanese driver also raced in sister series Euro 4 but scored no points. 

MTEC Motorsport

MTEC Motorsport will return to the FR Oceania championship in 2025. This will be the sixth season in the series for the family-run team, which returned to the grid last year for the first time since 2020. 

Making his FR debut, UAE–based New Zealander Zack Scoular (#3) will join MTEC in 2025. The 17-year-old most recently competed in British F4 with new team Xcel Motorsport, finishing 15th in the championship. His best finish was third in the second race at Brands Hatch. Scoular has entered the championship using the $NZ 70,000 prize he earned for winning the Tony Quinn Foundation Scholarship in October.

Another driver making his FR debut with MTEC is Patrick Heuzenroeder (#5). The 19-year-old Australian last raced in the 2024 GB3 season with JHR Developments, finishing 12th in the championship. His best finish in the series was third in the reverse-grid race three at Zandvoort. 

Much like teammates Scoular and Heuzenroeder, Nicholas Monteiro (#9) will also be making his FR debut with MTEC. Last year, the 19-year-old Brazilian raced in USF Pro 2000 with DEForce Racing, finishing 13th in the standings with 162 points. 

Josh Pierson (#14) will start his 2025 by racing with MTEC in preparation for his third Indy NXT campaign. Pierson, 18, finished 14th overall in Indy NXT last season with 264 points after coming 15th in a partial season in 2023. The American also has experience racing in sports cars, and in 2022 he was the youngest driver ever to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the age of 16.

Shawn Rashid (#32) rounds out MTEC’s lineup for 2025. The 29-year-old American driver last raced in GB3 with VRD in 2024, finishing 17th in the championship and taking his first podium in the series in race two at Silverstone. This season will mark Rashid’s debut in FR cars, though it will be a step down from the GP2 machinery he tested in the fall.

Giles Motorsport 

Giles Motorsport, formed by former McLaren chief mechanic Stephen Giles, has competed in the series since 2008. Mitch Cunningham, Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans have all won the Toyota Racing Series championship title with Giles Motorsport in the team’s first four years of existence, with Evans winning the title twice. 

Arguably the headline name on the season entry list, 2024 Supercars champion Will Brown (#87) will make his return to single-seater racing with Giles Motorsport this year. The 26-year-old Australian, who normally drives a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Triple Eight Racing, last raced in single-seaters in 2016, winning the Australian F4 title and finishing second in FFord. Brown will race in three rounds – Taupo, Hampton Downs and Highlands 

Brown’s car will be piloted by Tommy Smith (#16) for the rounds at Manfeild and Teretonga. The 22-year-old Australian competed in F3 with Van Amersfoort Racing last year, finishing 20th overall with a best finish of fourth in the Silverstone feature race. He had finished eighth in the series last year after entering three of the five rounds and 14th in the former Toyota Racing Series in 2019. Smith’s participation in FR Oceania will prepare him for his main campaign in Indy NXT this year with HMD Motorsports. 

Giles is also an engineer with Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport in the United States, where two of his team’s drivers competed in 2024. One of them, Barrett Wolfe (#13), will join Giles for his first series outside of the United States. The 21-year-old raced in F4 US last year with Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport, ending the season fifth overall in the championship and finishing third year, both times for finishing third. This series will mark the American driver’s debut in FR competition.

Teammate Alex Crosbie (#41), meanwhile, will return to Giles Motorsport for a second FR Oceania campaign. Crosbie, 17, finished fifth overall in his rookie season last year despite taking only one podium, a third-place finish in race two in the opening round at Taupo. The New Zealander finished fourth in F4 US with two wins and a total of 190 points. 

Kiwi Motorsport 

Known as Victory Motor Racing until 2020, Kiwi Motorsport has participated in the championship since its inception in 2005. Last season, their driver Patrick Woods-Toth secured third overall and the rookie title in the championship before going on to win the FR Americas title. 

Nicolas Stati (#15) will join Kiwi Motorsport for his FR debut as he eyes a move to FR Americas next year. Stati took second overall in both Australian F4 and F4 US, taking three wins in the latter and missing out on the title by only 4.5 points. The 16-year-old Australian also raced in F4 UAE earlier last year and most recently raced in the F4 UAE Trophy. 

Jett Bowling (#22) will return to Kiwi Motorsport for his second FR Oceania campaign after finishing 12th in the championship last year. Bowling ran those races in preparation for his season with the team last year in FR Americas, in which he finished third overall with eight podiums with 186.5 points. The 19-year-old American was also the lone entry for the team at the FIA FR World Cup in Macau, where he finished 18th in the qualifying race but failed to finish the main race after being involved in a multi-car pileup on the first lap. Prior to that, he added two FR Europe rounds with G4 Racing to his schedule.

James Lawley (#88) rounds out Kiwi Motorsport’s lineup for the 2025 season as he races overseas for the first time. The 21-year-old Canadian driver also raced in FR Americas last year, albeit with rival squad Atlantic Racing Team. He finished ninth in the championship with 84.5 points, taking a best finish of fourth in race two at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Lawley plans to continue with the team in the series for 2025.

Editor’s note, 14 January 2025, 00:51 CET: This article was amended after publication to include an updated live timing resource.

Header photo credit: Toyota Gazoo Racing NZ