Slater fastest as wet weather dominates again in CTFROT

There was more rain for the feature race qualifying at Teretonga Park this morning at the third round of the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy.

In a session peppered once again with red flags as drivers struggled on the slippery track, it was Freddie Slater who once again adapted best to the challenging conditions to post the session’s fastest time an d take pole position for the Spirit of a Nation feature race on Sunday afternoon.

The times tumbled in the first five minutes as drivers found their feet in the wet conditions that prevailed around the 2.57km track.

With five minutes gone it was the Hitech duo of Jin Nakamura and Kanato le trading times at the top with Freddie Slater for M2 Competition and mtec Motorsport’s Louis Sharp. Lurking behind them once again was Fionn McLaughlin. Championship leader Ugo Ugochukwu then entered the fight for pole as well.

A little further back Zac Scoular and Kalle Rovanperä were also building up speed and moving up the order on each flying lap.

Almost exactly at halfway Slater, who had clocked the fastest time, spun off after mild contact with Trevor LaTourette. With a pause while Slater’s car was removed and he drove back to the pits, he held the fastest time from Ugochukwu, Le, Nakamura, Sharp, Scoular, Rovanperä.

Light damage to Slater’s bodywork meant he was stationary for a moment whilst the rest went back out onto the track to start the process of building up speed and tyre temperature for the final five minutes. Freddie, however, wasn’t far behind in getting back out and immediately picked up where he had left off, going hard out from the moment he left the pits.

Any chance the leading bunch had to improve their times disappeared moments into the restart, however, when Sebastian Manson and Fionn McLaughlin touched and went off – the Irish young gun clearly unhappy.

That brought an end to the session, with the top ten fastest times going to Slater, Ugochukwu, Nakamura, Le, Sharp, Scoular, Rovanperä, Yuanpu Cui, Ernesto Rivera and Ryan Wood.

2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy – Round 3 – Teretonga Feature Qualifying

*Car 22 3 place grid penalty causing red flag