Johnson shows pace in CTFROC practice, Lindblad close behind

Nikita Johnson showed he will be a contender for honours in this season’s Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship, topping two of the three timed sessions in the final day of testing ahead of round one qualifying.

The 16-year-old from St Petersburg, Florida, immediately caught the eye by starting the day with the fastest time ever recorded by Toyota’s FT60 around the scenic North Island circuit.

A rising star on the United States motorsport scene, Johnson is the only driver to have won at all three levels of the USF Pro Championships as well being the youngest driver to win in each of the series.  

For most drivers – including Johnson – the first morning session was their first run on brand new tyres, although several, notably compatriot Josh Pierson, were on the Pirellis they had used in the final session on Thursday.

In the cool morning sunshine of Taupo, both Johnson and M2 Competition teammate and Red Bull star Arvid Lindblad went under the 1 minute 23 second mark, recording the two fastest ever times by the Toyota FT60 around the Taupo track.

Michael Shin – back in NZ for a second season of FR Oceania – continued his good form from Thursday with third fastest time in the first session. Supercars champion Will Brown vaulted up to fourth for Giles Motorsport when he did a new tyre run in the second half of the session.

The second session was run in much warmer conditions and on a track still greasy from oil left on much of the track by one of the historic classes racing at Taupo this weekend. Combined with most opting for old tyre race runs, the lap times were much slower than the morning.

Lindblad hit the top of the time sheets with a string of excellent laps on race pace, while Shawn Rashid used new tyres to good effect to go second in the session for mtec Motorsport. A strong race run by mtec team mate Pierson pushed him up to third while Shin was there again in fourth.

Australia’s Patrick Heuzenroeder was fifth for mtec. Zack Scoular was the best of the Kiwis in sixth – making it four mtec cars in the top six for the session.

In a fascinating third and final session most of the drivers left it until the final 18 minutes to go out on new tyres and try a few timed runs.

With three minutes to go it had narrowed down to a shootout between four of the drivers for the top spot – Johnson, Lindblad, Pierson and Brown. The latter had made several set up changes after the second session in a bid for greater comfort in the tight confines of the Formula Regional car and it appeared to have paid off.

It was ultimately Johnson who took the top time in 1 minute 23.525 seconds, the youngster proved he should be at the sharp end of the battle when qualifying gets underway on Saturday morning.

Lindblad was close behind in second, with Pierson third, Brown fourth, Shin fifth and Sebastian Manson the top Kiwi in sixth.

2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship – Round 1 Friday Practice 1

2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship – Round 1 Friday Practice 2

2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship – Round 1 Friday Practice 3