Zack attack! - Scoular storms to New Zealand Grand Prix win

Zack Scoular produced the finest drive of his career – in his last ever single seater race – to win the 70^th New Zealand Grand Prix at Highlands Motorsport Park today.

As he raced across the line to become the 33^rd Kiwi to win the iconic race and add the name Zack Scoular to the Motor Cup, American Ugo Ugochukwu followed him home in ninth place to take the 2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy. In doing so he broke Slater’s cycle of winning every championship he has contested.

A valiant effort by Hitech’s Jin Nakamura – celebrating his 20^th birthday – and Kanato Le came up just a few car lengths short but the pair, two of Japan’s most significant rising stars, took the remaining places on the podium.

After a challenging 2025 on and off the track it was the best way for Scoular to start 2026 and a new chapter in his motor racing career. It was his finest drive, and his most important win.

“We’ve had the speed all weekend and we believed we could win it,” said the mtec Motorsport driver on the podium. “The start was fantastic and that really set us up for the rest of the race.

“To win the New Zealand Grand Prix, well, what can I say? It’s absolutely amazing to know my name will be added to those on that trophy and for me the best possible way to end my single seater career as I head off to a new chapter in LMP3 this year.”

The championship had come down to two drivers – both with M2 Competition. Ugochukwu and Freddie Slater had been the stand-out performers across all four rounds and 26 points stood between Ugochukwu at the top of the points table and Slater in second before the race began.

Ugochukwu would need place finish 13th or higher in the Grand Prix to secure the championship – even if Freddie won the race. And if Freddie didn’t finish in the top three, he could not overcome Ugo’s points lead, no matter where Ugochukwu finished.

It wasn’t going to be clear cut, however, as the American would line up further back on the grid having been disqualified from Saturday’s second qualifying session – Q2 – after a wishbone cover was left off when his mechanics rebuilt his front left suspension between Q1 and Q2. With Mexico’s Ernesto Rivera – ninth fastest qualifier - out of the Grand Prix after his Saturday crash, Ugo would therefore start 13^th.

With Ugo’s time gone from Q2 and Q3, Ryan Wood would start seventh, after he was also disqualified from Q3, like Ugochukwu for a car that didn’t comply to the rules. Wood’s drop from the front row of the grid to the fourth not only made Slater’s job look a little easier, but it also opened up more possibilities for the Grand Prix itself.

Hitech’s Jin Nakamura would start the race from pole position, of course, after his electrifying performance throughout Saturday’s qualifying session.  Zack Scoular – very much a dark horse for the weekend, but second in the race in 2025 – was alongside. Row two had another two potential winners in Kanato Le starting third and Slater starting fourth. Louis Sharp and Liam Sceats were next on row three.

The sunshine of the previous days had gone, but it was still warm and windy, if overcast, as the field set off on the 4.1km warm-up lap.

As the lights went out on the starting gantry, it was Scoular who made the best start and shot off into the lead. Nakamura held onto second despite a poor start. Ugochukwu was already up to 12^th by the time the first lap was over, while Slater sat fourth behind Le. There was contact between Allaer and David on lap one, but the rest made it through without drama.

Lap two and a huge move took Wood past Sceats for sixth, but he was already two seconds behind team mate Sharp. Ugochukwu moved to 11^th on the third lap as he tried hard to make early gains and that became tenth when Nolan Allaer had a wild moment across the grass a couple of corners later.

Scoular was the man with pace and was dragging the two Hitech drivers in their silver FT60s with him as he built an advantage. Nakamura used a push-to-pass on lap five to close back up and set the fastest lap of the race so far but he could not sustain the pressure on the leader. Further back Allaer’s wild ride had punctured his left rear and he headed to pitlane for fresh rubber.

Things settled down as the race approached one third distance. It was still Scoular, from Nakamura, Le and Slater with the four covered by just over two seconds. Sharp still held fifth but Wood had closed him down to a gap of just over a second. Sceats was a second or so behind Wood, then Sebastian Manson, the ice-cool Ugochukwu, Yevan David and the rest. Manson made way for M2 Competition team mate Ugo on lap 11, the American clearly in a hurry to get as close to the front as possible.

As the race reached the halfway point, Scoular held station and the order remained unchanged but lap 11 brought out the first Safety Car as Australian Jack Taylor went into the wall on the exit of the penultimate corner. Removal of the bent FT60 got underway but the red was called to pause the race rather than run laps down behind the Safety Car.

Thirteen laps were completed and there were fourteen to go when former NZ Formula Ford champion Callum Crawley turned the GR Supra Safety Car lights out and pulled in to release the field. With tyres not fully up to temperature restarting would be a challenge for every driver but Scoular nailed it perfectly again. Wood passed Sharp for fifth on the restart and was immediately on the attack.

Scoular quickly settled into a good rhythm and once again started to push away, but with the two Hitech cars managing to hang on as before, but again unable to challenge. A push-to-pass move nearly caught him out on lap 16 but ended up gaining Zack another tenth, and a bit more again when Nakamura momentarily lost the rear and some momentum in his chase of the leader.

With ten to go Scoular maintained his six tenths advantage over Nakamura, with Le a further second back. Slater was falling back at this stage of the race and was 2.5 seconds in arrears of the leader in fourth as his championship hopes faded with his pace. Nakamura made another push-to-pass attack on lap 19 and again fell short. It was also becoming obvious tyre management was proving critical as the lead bunch picked up mtec Motorsport duo Wood and Sharp onto its tail.

Scoular set the fastest lap of the race on lap 21 and increased his lead to over a second. This was significant as it demonstrated he had managed his tyres well and would have something left for defence in the remaining laps. He never looked back.

He extended the gap to Nakamura to one and a half seconds on lap 23, and for the first time looked to have broken the challenge from behind. Nakamura fought hard to keep up, and he did for the remaining laps, but could not eat into the Kiwi’s lead. Looking calm and fully in control, he eased off momentarily when Cooper Shipman went off but the race came to an end with a lap and a half to go when Trevor LaTourette put his car in the wall with one lap to go.

The 70^th New Zealand Grand Prix was Scoular’s. And the title went to M2 Competition’s laid back American, by some margin the most ‘chilled’ driver to ever compete in NZ’s premier single seater championship. M2 Competition took out the teams’ championship title ahead of mtec Motorsport and Hitech. Louis Sharp took the Trans-Tasman Trophy for the New Zealand and Australian drivers.

2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy – 70^th New Zealand Grand Prix