Kiwis face off against overseas hot shots at Toyota opener

Monday, 16 January 2023

Castrol scholarship winner James Penrose stunned by claiming victory in race two.

While New Zealanders managed to win two out of the three opening races of the 2022 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship series opener at Highlands Motorsport Park over the weekend, it was an Austrian racer that emerged with the title lead.

Callum Hedge (Auckland) and James Penrose (Christchurch) both claimed a race win a piece at the picturesque Cromwell circuit; grabbing race one and two honours respectively.

Hedge celebrates winning the opening race of the five-round season.

Race three, the Dorothy Smith Memorial Cup decider, went to 19-year-old American David Morales. Ironically, none of the race winners ended up with the championship lead. Instead it went to second-generation racer Charlie Wurz thanks to two podiums and a fourth.

“It's fantastic to win and finish off a good day. I was feeling pretty comfortable with the car but I felt that I had to go very hard from the start and I spent the warm-up laps really working the tyres hard to ensure they would be ready,” said Hedge.

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Hedge set the pace early, claiming pole position, a dominant race one victory, and fifth in the reverse-grid race two. The Porsche Carrera Cup Australia ace looked likely to hold the title lead at the end of the weekend until a suspension issue ended his race three chances.

Penrose’s surprise race two win came after the 26-year-old controlled the race from lights to flag – making a perfect start from pole position and never looking back.

“Heading into today after yesterday I didn’t think it would be possible to win today but I got lucky with the starting position for this race but once I was there I just focussed on getting a good start and getting my head down and racing as hard as I could,” said Penrose.

“I just got into a rhythm and I found that through the fast stuff everything just started to sync a lot better. I think being within half a second of my qualifying time during the race will give me the confidence moving forward that the speed is there once I’m in the rhythm.”

The best battles were those for the minor placings at the tail end of the podium. Most notable was the fight for second place in the second heat; Abel putting on an outstanding defensive performance to hold off an angry five-car train.

The event was a return to normality of sorts for the Toyota Formula Regional series, formerly known as the Toyota Racing Series.

It has been three years since the category last played host to drivers from around the world, with the Covid-19 pandemic forcing the 2021 season to be solely contested by a depleted grid of local drivers and forcing the cancellation of the 2022 season.

The 13-car 2023 grid includes four Americans (Morales, Jacob Abel, Chloe Chambers, Ryan Shehan), two Australians (Ryder Quinn, Tom McLennan), an Austrian (Wurz), a Brazilian (Lucas Fecury), a Brit (Josh Mason), and four New Zealanders (Hedge, Penrose, Liam Sceats, and Breanna Morris).

The series now travels to Teretonga Raceway in Invercargill for round two of the championship this weekend.