FROT – Hampton Downs: Louis Sharp first winner, Kalle Rovanperä already close to the top 10

In a particularly strong field, not all the big names shone on Saturday at Hampton Downs. On the New Zealand circuit, it was Ugo Ugochukwu who had nevertheless secured FROT's first pole position of the season, a few lengths ahead of Louis Sharp and Freddie Slater. Meanwhile, the first two mentioned will meet again on the grid of Formula 3 This year, the battle was fierce from the start of race 1. With a better start, the local driver quickly took the lead over the American, before never relinquishing his position as leader.

Slightly further back, however, Kenato Le (3rd) and Jin Nakamura (5th) delivered strong performances, both managing to overtake a struggling Freddie Slater. Furthermore, Ryan Wood (4th), coming from the V8 Supercars series, achieved a remarkable feat in his debut season. carIn a different vein, Kalle Rovanperä's first official single-seater race confirmed just how ambitious his goals were. Finishing 17th in Race 1, the Finn still appeared somewhat inexperienced in on-track battles, although Race 2 showed some improvement in this area.

A hierarchy is emerging in New Zealand

Based on a reverse grid for the top eight finishers of the first race, Race 2 saw Yevan David take the lead. Finishing ninth, the Sri Lankan driver watched Zack Scoular take the win, ahead of Jin Nakamura and Freddie Slater, both of whom were far more aggressive in the battles. The Briton notably found himself wheel-to-wheel with his rival Ryan Wood for almost half a lap, ultimately emerging victorious from this duel.

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While Ugo Ugochukwu and Louis Sharp managed to slightly make up ground due to the grid reversal to finish in fifth and sixth positions, Kalle Rovanperä finished his second race in 11th place. Although this doesn't suggest a rapid adaptation to the car, the two-time world champion WRC He displayed more qualities in the middle of the pack during this race. At one point tenth, the Finn was overtaken in the final moments by Fionn McLaughlin, the British F4 champion, who will be on the F3 grid in 2026.

Qualifying session 2 will now take place at 21:30 PM (French time) this Saturday, while the final two races of the weekend will be held at 00:09 AM and 3:32 AM tomorrow morning. As a reminder, the starting grid for Race 3 is determined by each driver's fastest lap time achieved between Races 1 and 2, while Q2 will determine the grid order for Race 4.

FROT (Oceania Regional Formula)
Race 1 ranking

Race 2 ranking