Race 2 of the Teretonga weekend on Saturday was postponed to Sunday morning due to inclement weather, forcing the cancellation of Race 3.
As a result, organisers have elected to add a make-up race to the Highlands program on Friday evening at 3:20pm AEDT.
The Race 1 grid at Highlands will be based on combined fastest lap times from Race 1 and Race 2 at Teretonga.
Saturday’s program at Highlands will feature a Formula 1-style, three-part qualifying. Qualifying will be split into Q1, Q2, and Q3 to set the grid for Race 4, the New Zealand Grand Prix.
Times from Q1 will be ultra-important, with the Race 2 grid to be determined by those results.
The grid for Race 3 will reverse the top eight finishers from Race 2, with the rest of the grid determined by the Race 2 finishing order.
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“It’s a lot to do for the teams, including ourselves, the TGR NZ team, so it’s going to be a big push on Friday,” said Formula Regional Oceania Trophy category manager Josh Greenland.
“It’s going to be great for the spectators with more racing.”
M2 Competition driver Ugo Ugochukwu goes into the final four races of the season on top of the standings with 237 points to his name.
Ugochukwu’s teammate Freddie Slater is second on 215 points and is closely trailed by Hitech TGR driver Jin Nakamura.
Toyota addresses Teretonga controversies
In the build-up to the New Zealand Grand Prix weekend, Formula Regional Oceania Trophy category manager Greenland addressed a series of incidents at Teretonga.
The first involved cars receiving outside assistance from trackside marshals during qualifying after causing a red flag and being allowed to continue competing in the session.
Although the incidents did not sit well with some competitors, Greenland said it was allowed.
“We obviously acknowledge there are some gaps in the regulations with the new regulations this season, so we’re working on those,” said Greenland.
“The assistance that was allowed met the rules at the end of the day.”
There was another awkward moment during the Spirit of a Nation Trophy when the red flag was drawn for wet weather.
The field initially lined up on the grid before being pushed into the pit lane to change from slick tyres to treaded wet weather tyres.
“All teams had the opportunity to come into the pits when the red flag was shown. Everyone obviously decided to go to the control line,” he explained.
“It’s obviously a new procedure, so there were some learnings for everyone from that.
“At the end of the day, safety is paramount to us and priority number one.
“How we got to where we got to maybe could have been a little bit cleaner, but at the end of the day, the result was what we needed.”
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