Red flags scramble Teretonga Formula Regional qualifying

Giles Motorsport driver Nolan Allaer brought out the first red flag inside the first four minutes of the session when the American spun at Turn 1.

Less than a minute after the session resumed Ireland’s Fionn McLaughlin put his Hitech TGR car in the gravel at the penultimate turn on his out lap.

After a lengthy recovery, qualifying continued with less than eight minutes left on the clock.

To that point, Japan’s Jin Nakamura stood on top of the pile. However, he brought proceedings to a premature end when he went off at Turn 1.

For bringing out the red flag, the Hitech TGR driver was given a three-place grid penalty. That promoted M2 Competition’s Ernesto Rovera to pole position.

Nakamura arrived late to the post-qualifying interview, with his race suit muddied.

“I’m a bit embarrassed for this,” he said.

“It was quite tough conditions for everyone, raining so hard. It was quite scary.

“To be honest, I couldn’t find anything. My first lap was quite safe… just a bit lucky.”

McLaughlin and Allaer, who were fourth and fifth respectively at the end of the session, will each receive three-place grid penalties too.

“We only got two push laps. Yeah, a lot of red flags, super tricky conditions,” said Rovera.

“Visibility was zero. It was a bit of luck I think for everyone to get a clean lap and we did get a clean lap, so that was good.”

Behind Rovera was M2 teammate Freddie Slater, who despite claiming a front row start called for the session to be scratched.

“To be honest, I hope they don’t count that as a session, because no one really got to finish a lap properly. I’ll be surprised if they keep that as the result.

“Like I said, it was good fun, but obviously impossible to finish a lap with the amount of red flags we had. We’ll see what comes of it later.”

Slater said racing would be impossible if the same conditions continued.

“The car is good, the car feels good underneath me, it’s honestly just too much rain for the racing. With 20 cars on track on such a small track, it’s just going to be lethal.

“Obviously safety comes first, at the end of the day. We definitely need to be smart with what we do, but the car feels good.”

Supercars driver Ryan Wood was 10th fastest while title contender Louis Sharp was a lowly 17th ahead of Kiwi compatriot Zack Scoular.

Results: Formula Regional Oceania Trophy Teretonga Park, Qualifying 1