Brown Unstoppable In New Zealand Grand Prix

He became the first Australian since Warwick Brown in 1975 to win, steering his Giles Motorsport Toyota FT60 to a two second victory ahead of the first Kiwi – and Rookie champion for the 2025 Castrol Toyota FR Oceania Championship – Zack Scoular. Series champion Arvid Lindblad, driving a spare car, was a fighting third.

It was a special moment for the 26 year old reigning Supercars champion and team boss Stephen Giles. “I was nervous about the start and I knew if I could beat Broc away off the line I had a chance to get ahead and control the race,” an exhausted Will said on the podium.

“I was rooted. The first ten laps were really hard and I was quite stressed in the car trying not to make mistakes. I had a few loose moments and I had to calm down, breath and get it back together. After that I pushed on and we started to set some really fast laps.

“Zack was super-fast and always there. But it was a cool race. When I saw the Safety Car come out I knew I had to build a bigger gap. I’ve loved racing in the open wheelers and the NZ fans have been great.”

The New Zealand national anthem and a quartet of Scottish bagpipers helped build the atmosphere for the 27 laps around the 4.01km Highlands Motorsport Park. Conditions were windy, but the rain forecast had failed to arrive and it was a dry track that greeted the 17 runners.

At the lights it was Brown who made the best getaway and made jump on Feeney he had hoped for. Broc didn’t get off the line well and had to slot in in third behind Scoular, who also made a blinder of a start. Shawn Rashid for mtec Motorsport got away well to take fourth, while champion Arvid Lindblad made light work of running in an unfamiliar car and settled into fifth over the first few corners of lap one. Patrick Heuzenroeder – starting sixth after a three-place grid penalty for his involvement in the Race 2 incident in the morning – was sixth.

As they surged into the daunting final curve of lap one, 29 year-old Rashid went around the outside of Feeney for third in with a breath-taking move reminiscent of Liam Lawson’s pass on Marcus Armstrong - a move which secured him a Red Bull future.

Lap two was shaping nicely too until M2 Competition’s Enzo Yeh spun and returned to the track far too early, collecting James Lawley and putting both out. That brought out the Safety Car and it was lap six before the action resumed.

At the restart both Brown and Scoular got the jump on Rashid. Further back Lindblad - carrying number one on his FT60 for the Grand Prix - was looking very racy behind Feeney. Lap 7 and Rashid – doing a fantastic job in the final race of the championship – went fastest and that put him right on the tail of mtec team mate Scoular. Feeney meanwhile was given a warning for exceeding track limits on the same lap defending fourth from Lindblad.

Arvid had a good look at a pass mid-way through lap eight but there was no way round. Broc responded by attacking Rashid but every time he did, it brought Lindblad within attacking range in what was quickly evolving into a fascinating contest.

There was more bad news for Heuzenroeder when he was forced to pit at the end of lap nine and retire with damage to his rear suspension after light contact with the wall. That elevated Michael Shin to sixth, Jett Bowling to seventh, Nikita Johnson to eighth, Matias Zagazeta to ninth and Kiwi Sebastian Manson into the top ten.

At the hallway mark Brown had stretched his lead over Scoular marginally, but it was still just under three quarters of a second. Rashid was a further second back, with Feeney and Lindblad nose to tail a few car lengths behind him. Within a couple of laps though, Shawn had dropped a further back and the race settled into a battle for the lead between Brown and Scoular and a battle for third between Rashid, Feeney and Lindblad.

On lap 15 Feeney made it past Rashid, who was seemingly hampered by a loose panel on the front of his FT60. Lindblad was quickly on Rashid’s tail and when Feeney made a big mistake at the forest hairpin, it allowed both Rashid and Lindblad by. Worse still for Feeney, Michael Shin also found a way past. Further back Zagazeta was forced into the pits with a drive through penalty for exceeding track limits and fell out of the top ten and to the back of the field, a disappointing end to a season that promised so much.

Rooted he may have been but Brown remained in control at the front even though it was Lindblad who was the man on the move as the race entered its final ten laps. He finally passed Rashid on lap 17 and that put him up to third but five seconds down on Scoular. Zack remained less than a second behind Will as the remaining laps ticked into single figures.

With seven to go Brown made his move to secure the race win, stretching his lead over Scoular to 1.3 seconds, perhaps aware that Lindblad was clocking fastest lap after fastest lap, often a second quicker per lap than the two leaders. As the gap to Zack diminished Lindblad hustled his car even more, drifting the car spectacularly through the infield chicane on lap 23 in his brave pursuit.

The gap between the top two reduced on lap 23 and as they sped into lap 24 – with three to go – it was down to a second once more. Scoular could smell victory and put in his fastest laps of the race as he piled pressure on the leader. Brown though responded with his fastest lap of the race on lap 24. The flying Lindblad was still closing on both of them.

Will though, had done enough, and took the flag to become the eighth Australian to win New Zealand’s biggest single seater race adding his name alongside the likes of Moss, Brabham, Hill, Surtees, Amon, Rosberg, Norris and of course, 2021 winner and the last Supercars champ to win NZ’s big one, Shane van Gisbergen.

2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship – 69th New Zealand Grand Prix

2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship – Final Championship Standings

2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship

Round 01: 10 – 12 January 2025, Taupo International Motorsport Park

Round 02: 17 – 19 January 2025, Hampton Downs International Motorsport Park

Round 03: 24 – 26 January 2025, Manfeild, Circuit Chris Amon

Round 04: 31 January – 2 February 2025, Teretonga Park, Invercargill

Round 05: 7 – 9 February 2025, Highlands Motorsport Park, 69th New Zealand Grand Prix

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