TRS gains Formula Regional status

[Rusty Nail]

https://www.velocitynews.co.nz/trs-b...-championship/

" “Being a Formula Regional championship comes with the Super License points, and now we get the full amount of super license points, says Toyota Gazoo Racing New Zealand Manager Nicolas Caillol.

“This means the winner of the championship gets 18 points. When you look at it, 18 points is almost 50 per cent of the points required to get the Formula 1 super license, so it’s a good amount of points you can get towards that.”

The January timing of the series also means most drivers will have an open schedule to come and compete, should they wish.

“Because our championship is run outside of any other championship period you can accumulate two years [of points] in one year,” Caillol says. "

[Rusty Nail]

The series kicks off this weekend at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell.

Run over the next five consecutive weekends at five different circuits throughout NZ it has drivers from NZ, Australia, Austria and the USA.

See link below for more info plus dates, venues, teams and drivers.

https://www.velocitynews.co.nz/excit...ceania-opener/

Can't wait to see who shines, it's a pretty concentrated high pressure five weekends coming up.

[GreenMachine]

I might have to fire up the ol Rupertel ...

Pity noone over here offered to host a round or two, I'd travel for this.

[Rusty Nail]

Quali and Race 1 yesterday. Callum Hedge on pole and took the race win.

For the life of me couldn't find the Sky coverage but it was hiding in plain sight.

Nothing about TRS or Formula Regional, it was billed as Super Sprint NZ Championship. Thought that was sprint cars or drifting - duh! Different promoter this year maybe wanting to stamp his point of difference on it. Only result in reduced audience though I would think!

Anyway day two kicks of with FROC quali at 10am nz time Race 2 at 1pm and the feature race at 4pm.

Sky 5 coverage from 10am to 5pm.

Be interesting to see how day 2 shakes out.

[gomick]

Hedge was good. Morales qualified well - never heard of him...

[Rusty Nail]

Charlie Wurz wins first Round.
David Morales wins Feature Race.

https://talkmotorsport.co.nz/singles...eak-for-hedge/

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

[Rusty Nail]

Teretonga this weekend. Here's a quick preview of what we could be in for......

https://talkmotorsport.co.nz/singles...-invercargill/

[Rusty Nail]

Another pole for Hedges on Saturday at Teretonga. Charlie Wurz gets his first race win though.

https://talkmotorsport.co.nz/singles...n-new-zealand/

Tomorrow sees Q2 plus reverse grid Race 2, then the feature race.

The Invercargill weather even in midsummer can be notoriously fickle, however the forecast is looking reasonable.

[Rusty Nail]

Wurz gets his first pole and feature race win.

https://talkmotorsport.co.nz/singles...a-feature-win/

Hedges has a great drive to win reverse grid race from grid 7 in challenging conditions.

https://talkmotorsport.co.nz/singles...-at-teretonga/

2023 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship Points after Round 2
1/ Charlie Wurz (Austria) – 160
2/ Callum Hedge (NZ) – 135
3/ Jacob Abel (USA) – 117
4/ Ryder Quinn (Aus) – 110
5/ Liam Sceats (NZ) – 108
6/ Josh Mason (UK) – 97
7/ James Penrose (NZ) – 92
8/ David Morales (USA) – 88
9/ Chloe Chambers (USA) – 80
10/ Ryan Shehan (USA) – 80
11/ Tom McLennan (Aus) – 58
12/ Lucas Fecury (Bra) – 56
13/ Bree Morris (NZ) – 45

The fight continues at Manfeild this coming weekend!

[peebee2]

Such a shame with that level of drivers. I guess they go to the Middle East series now.

[Rusty Nail]

Not sure what's up. Hopefully just a one off glitch.

Anyway the whole circus crosses Cook Strait to the North Island and Round 3 at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon.

Three more drivers for Manfeild this weekend. Brit Louis Foster, Irishman Adam Fitzgerald and Kiwi Billy Fraser. Good talents there who should slot into the top half of the field, I would think. Quick overview of the weekend:-

https://talkmotorsport.co.nz/singles...-championship/

Looks like a pretty wet day tomorrow, could make things interesting...

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by Rusty Nail

Not sure what's up. Hopefully just a one off glitch.

Somehow I would doubt it. It's been well outdone by series using much more relevant tracks that are more accessible.

[Rusty Nail]

If what you say is right, that doesn't auger well for the future of the series. However I'm sure Toyota NZ and some (all?) of the teams will be doing their utmost to ensure it's success. Nevertheless it's a long way short of the halcyon days when we saw current F1 drivers out here for the Tasman Series.

In what way do you consider the tracks not relevant?

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by Rusty Nail

In what way do you consider the tracks not relevant?

In general they’re short, narrow, have grass run-offs and the career drivers are unlikely to race in them ever again.

[Rusty Nail]

I guess all that is true. Whether that is a real deterrent to drivers at this stage in their careers, only time will tell....