Laurens van Hoepen wins New Zealand Grand Prix

The 17-year-old Dutch sensation Laurens van Hoepen won the 67th New Zealand Grand Prix at Hampton Downs.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The feature race for the weekend’s fourth round of the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship – run as part of the 2023 Super Sprint MotorSport New Zealand Championship, was a clean lights-to-flag event.

Starting from pole position, van Hoepen was overtaken at the first turn by Brit Louis Foster. On the next lap van Hoepen made an aggressive move to re-take the position.

He held on for the remaining 27 laps and re-lowered the track lap record in a Toyota FT-60 to 1m30.061.

Second was Foster with New Zealand’s Callum Hedge third.

The field of 19 cars counted down the laps with the occasional change of position. All starters made it to the chequered flag without a break to the racing.

Finishing in seventh Charlie Wurz now has a ten point lead over Hedge in the CTFROC standings.

The pre-cursor 20-lap race started with Wurz on pole and race one winner Kaleb Ngatoa back in eighth.

It was heartbreak for overnight series leader Hedge, who was unable to take the start after an electrical failure stopped him on the way to the grid.

Wurz managed to stay ahead of the chasing field despite continual pressure from second placed Jacob Abel.

Teams now prepare for the shift to the Taupo Motorsport Park for the title deciding round of the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship next weekend.