Kiwi driver Liam Sceats will head to the second round of the 2023 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship with renewed confidence after some highs and lows last weekend at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell.
Sceats qualified well and showed he is capable of finishing on the podium, however a crash in Race 2 put a ‘dent’ is his opening round performance and he sits seventh on the overall points table.
In the two qualifying sessions (for Race 1 & 3), Sceats was sixth and fourth fastest and came home fifth in the opening race and then improved to third in the final Dorothy Smith Memorial Trophy race.
“Definitely happy with third,” commented Sceats. “I’m not sure what happened to Callum (Hedge) which is unfortunate for him as he has been driving superbly all weekend. None the less, with what happened in Race 2 and bouncing back like this, it’s awesome.”
Fellow Kiwi and Race 1 winner, Callum Hedge, was fastest qualifier in both sessions and won the opening race of the series, came in sixth in Race two and was fighting for the lead in the third before damaged suspension sent him to the pits for repairs and consigned him to a last place finish.
Having come from competing in Formula Ford, Sceats has quickly made the adjustment to a much bigger, faster and more powerful single seater.
“Qualifying is so crucial,” said Sceats. “These cars are so hard to pass in which I have quickly learnt. For the rest of the series I now know that qualifying is vital.
“In first qualifying we were sixth and in the second we were fourth so it’s good that we improved over the weekend with both the car and myself so we will head to Teretonga to continue this.”
In the reverse top-eight Race 2, Sceats crashed his car coming through the Bus-Stop corner at the end of the start-finish straight.
“It was just a driver error and most unfortunate that it happened in that part of the track. It cost a lot but happy to bounce back better.”
He now heads to Teretonga Park in Invercargill with more confidence in both the car and himself coupled with the support of his M2 Team.
“My engineer and everyone at M2 have been most helpful in getting to where I am so all credit to those guys.”
Points after 1/5 rounds
1/ Charlie Wurz (Austria) 76 points
2/ David Morales (USA) 74
3/ Jacob Abel (USA) 58
4/ Ryder Quinn (Aus) 58
5/ Callum Hedge (NZ) 54
6/ James Penrose (NZ) 52
7/ Liam Sceats (NZ) 49
8/ Chloe Chambers (USA) 49
9/ Josh Mason (UK) 45
10/ Tom McLennan (Aus) 30
11/ Lucas Fecury (Br) 29
12/ Ryan Shehan (USA) 29
13/ Bree Morris (NZ) 23
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