2024 Formula Regional Oceania Championship

The 2024 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship was the second season of the Formula Regional Oceania Championship, and the nineteenth running of the premier open-wheel motorsport category formerly known as the Toyota Racing Series, held in New Zealand. It was held over five consecutive weekends in January and February 2024.

For the first time in the history of the championship and its predecessors, the highest placed Australian or Kiwi driver after the first two rounds was awarded the Tasman Cup that had previously been awarded to the winner of the Tasman Series up until 2023. Australian driver Christian Mansell was second overall after the second round at Manfeild, thereby taking this title.

Roman Bilinski, driving for M2 Competition, claimed the championship at the penultimate race of the season. Kiwi Motorsport driver Patrick Woods-Toth took the rookie title at the same race.

Entry list

All drivers competed with identical Tatuus FT-60 chassis cars powered by 2.0L turbocharged Toyota engines. The series switched its tyre supplier from Hankook to Pirelli because of a fire at Hankook's factory in Daejeon that caused widespread supply issues. The series supplied all cars with 100% fossil-free fuel, becoming the first Formula Regional championship to take this sustainability step.

Race calendar

Even before the 2023 season had begun, New Zealand's national motorsport governing body had already announced the 2024 calendar. The championship again consisted of five weekends. The round at Teretonga Park was dropped, instead the series returned to Euromarque Motorsport Park for the first time since 2018.

The 68th running of the New Zealand Grand Prix was held as the final race of the season, at Highlands Motorsport Park.

Race results

Season report

First half

The 2024 Formula Regional Oceania Championship began at a wet Taupo with Giles's Christian Mansell taking pole position for the first race. His advantage was short-lived, however, as M2's Roman Bilinski grabbed the lead at the start. He continued to lead Mansell all 18 laps, throughout a safety car phase. His teammate Michael Shin completed the podium. Giles's Alex Crosbie headed the field for the reversed-grid second race. Two caution periods disrupted proceedings, allowing M2's Gerrard Xie to rise up to second and then grab the lead at the final restart to win. Crosbie dropped to third, behind Bilinski. Mansell had qualified on pole position for the third race, but a penalty saw him start fifth. Nevertheless, he was back in second by the end of the first lap and took the lead on lap four. Bilinski took second shortly after and began closing up on Mansell. The Pole took the lead on lap 19 and went on to take the win. Mansell and M2's Liam Sceats were on the podium and left Taupo equal on points, 25 behind Bilinski.

Bilinski continued his form by taking pole position for the first race at Manfeild. He led Mansell throughout most of the first race, before the Australian dropped to tenth because of an electrical issue. This allowed Bilinski to take a trouble-free win ahead of Lacorte and Sceats. The second race was held in wet conditions and saw Bilinski forced to pit to repair his rain light, thereby removing him from contention. Xie spun from second place, while Mansell and his teammate Kaleb Ngatoa both got past Kiwi's polesitter Patrick Woods-Toth. The pair battled for the race lead with Mansell eventually coming out on top, while mtec's Tommy Smith completed the podium. Another pole position for Bilinski put him in prime position for race three. Wet conditions first saw a red flag for a crash between Lacorte and Shin, before multiple drivers spun and race control elected to stop the race early. Bilinski won ahead of Mansell and Sceats, now with a slightly reduced lead of 22 points ahead of newly crowned Tasman Cup winner Mansell.

Round three at Hampton Downs began with Xie taking pole position and Bilinski only managing 14th place. He turned his frustration into a momentous first race: in changing conditions, he climbed eight places on the first lap into sixth, forced his way past Xie and Sceats into third and set out after Ngatoa and mtec's Kaden Probst. The pair had started on wet tires, but the track was now dry enough that Bilinski could easily take the lead and the win ahead of Sceats and Woods-Toth. Race two began with Lacorte overtaking Shin into turn one, with the Italian, then controlling the race out in front to win ahead of the Korean with Bilinski in third. Now the Pole had also regained his one-lap pace and took pole position for race three. Xie was to start alongside him, but a heavy crash in race two saw him withdraw. This allowed Ngatoa into second and he used that to overtake Bilinski and leading him home. Shin came third, as Sceats overtook the absent Mansell for second in the standings, now 50 points behind Bilinski.

Second half

The series' return to Ruapuna saw Bilinski claim another pole position ahead of Sceats. The first race opened with a lengthy stoppage after heavy contact between Probst and Kiwi's Titus Sherlock. Bilinsiki controlled the restart and resisted Sceats's pressure all race long. Behind them, mtec's returnee Jacob Abel held on to third in a three-car battle with Ngatoa and Giles's Alex Crosbie. Race two saw front-row starters Shin and Woods-Toth making slight contact side-by-side into turn one. This saw Woods-Toth drop to third behind Xie. Shin then pulled away to win, while Xie did all he could to keep Woods-Toth behind him. Bilinski was on pole position again for the third race, again heading Sceats, but this time, the Kiwi got the better of the Pole into the first turn to take the lead. Again the leader had to resist pressure from behind, but like Bilinski the day before, Sceats did not put a foot wrong to claim his maiden win. Still, Bilinski had grown his lead to 56 points, with 90 still on offer heading into the final weekend.

Qualifying for the New Zealand Grand Prix at Highlands began with a shock for Bilinski as he crashed, putting him 13th on the grid for the Grand Prix, while Sceats took two pole positions. The first race saw a controlled lights-to-flag victory by Sceats to keep the championship alive going into the final day of the season. Bilinski started fourth and got into second, but could not find a way past mtec's Callum Hedge. M2's Bryce Aron started the second race from pole position, while Bilinski was in fifth. He needed to outscore Sceats to take the title, but did more than that, rising to second and briefly contending for victory before dropping back into third behind Woods-Toth. He thereby took the championship title, while Woods-Toth claimed the Rookie win. Sceats's only consolation for the loss of the championship title came in him winning the Grand Prix, resisting Hedge for 27 laps before claiming the victory, with Shin also on the podium. Bilinski's season ended in a wild crash, going over the top of Aron's car in the final turn.

Bilinski came to New Zealand with a single Formula Regional podium in his previous career, but was a championship contender right off the bat. While most of his six wins came from front-row starts, a defining moment of his championship was his win from fourteenth on the grid at Hampton Downs. Bilinski called his championship "massively" important for his career, calling himself "absolutely over the moon". Sceats was runner-up in a Formula Regional Championship for the second time in a year after his 2023 Formula Regional Japan campaign, but found comfort in winning the Grand Prix. After the race, his words to the media talking about his win were: "I’m speechless. I can’t even think right now. I can’t believe it." The championship's second year post-COVID saw it further reestablish itself as a competitive winter series, while also continuing to build upon its unique selling points with the addition of features like a fossil-free fuel.

Championship standings

Scoring system

No points were awarded for pole position or fastest lap.
; Race (starting grid from qualifying)

; Reversed grid race

Drivers' championship

Notes

References

External links

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{{New Zealand Toyota Racing Series

Toyota Racing Series
Formula Regional Oceania
Formula Regional Oceania
Formula Regional Oceania