Le takes debut win – and first NZ success for Hitech

Kanato Le took his and Hitech’s first win in the 2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy with a fine lights-to-flag victory around Highlands Motorsport Park.

It was the first win for a Japanese driver in New Zealand’s premier single seater championship since Yuki Tsunoda won – also at Highlands - back in 2020. Le was naturally delighted to take his first victory after a competitive but up until now, winless season in CTFROT. Victory moved him to sixth in the points table.

“First off I want to say thank you to Hitech,” he said. “It’s been a difficulty couple of weekends but I am delighted to bring the win to Hitech. James kept me on the edge of my seat and I had to focus on every corner and every lap but I managed to do it.”

In a critical race for the championship leaders – even with less points allocated for a reverse grid race – Freddie Slater reduced Ugo Ugochukwu’s series lead by three points to 26 with only the 70^th New Zealand Grand Prix remaining.

The grid – a reverse of Saturday’s top eight finishers occupying the first four rows – and pole position holder Kanato Le had with none other than 2024 NZ GP winner Liam Sceats alongside at the front.

Mexican Red Bull Junior Ernesto Rivera would not take the start after his crash in Saturday’s race, and nor would Kalle Rovanperä, still too ill to take part after coming down with a nasty bug on Thursday.

So with 18 runners, the race got underway in perfect conditions, the lights went out and it was Le who made the best start. As they poured into the bus stop, James Wharton jumped Sceats form his second row start while Ryan Wood, from the third row, got completely airborne. Red Bull Junior Fionn McLaughlin also had a wild ride through but thankfully all found their way through and continued.

At the end of the first lap if was Le, Wharton, Sceats, Louis Sharp, Freddie Slater, Wood, Ugo Ugochukwu, Jin Nakamura, Yevan David, Nolan Allaer and the rest.

The race settled quickly as drivers figured out how they would deploy their push to pass boosts, with six available for this race from the second lap. Zack Scoular was in a hurry down in the midfield, and was up to tenth by lap five with a pass on Allaer. Scoular’s next target was David but the tight battle through lap six brought Allaer and Sebastian Manson into what was a ferocious, and entertaining battle.

At the halfway mark, Wharton had found enough pace to close the gap to Le at the front to just seven tenths of a second.

Further back, Ugochukwu started posting fastest laps relatively quickly as his car came alive but an early track limits violation blunted his enthusiasm somewhat as the race progressed and he looked fairly happy to take what points he could.  He still had half a second on Nakamura in eighth after eight laps.

On lap nine Yuanpu Cui brought out the Safety Car as the leaders started their tenth lap when he spun off and went deep into the gravel at Turn 9.

The Safety Car period lasted until lap 13 and that was enough to drop the tyre pressures and provide multiple opportunities at the restart. As they surged through the final corner, Le timed his restart to perfection and had a few car lengths at the first chicane.

Slater was struggling for early pace further back and had an aggressive Wood all over him, with Ugochukwu ready to pounce on both.  The order remained unchanged, however, as they completed their first flying lap after the restart.

Lap 16 brought an end to Seb Manson’s race with mechanical issues but all eyes were on Wood’s continual attacks on Slater and the race was effectively over when Ricardo Baptista went into the gravel at Turn 11 around lap 17 after battling Cooper Shipman for 14^th and 15^th positions.

The race was completed under the Safety Car and it was Le to take Japan’s first win since 2020, followed by a satisfied Wharton, an impressive Sceats, Sharp, Slater, Wood, Ugochukwu, Nakamura, David and the hard-charging Scoular, who had battled well but with the Safety Car periods ran out of time to mount a challenge on the Sri Lankan ahead.

2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy – Race 2