The Australian, who took pole position, led from lights to flag – holding off a brief attack from Red Bull’s Arvid Lindblad before skipping away.

It marked Heuzenroeder’s first win in the New Zealand series, adding to his three third place finishes.

“I focused on getting it off the line and then after that just managed the gap. The car was great, so thanks to the boys and girls at MTEC,” said Heuzenroeder.

“I thought it was going to be three seconds when Arvid started dropping off in the middle, but I knew I had the pace and have had the pace all weekend.

“It’s great to get a big win.”

Lindblad spent the lion’s share of the race in no man’s land while Michael Shin fought to keep Will Brown at bay.

Brown fought hard to get by Shin, and midway through the race made nose-to-tail contact.

In the closing stages of the 18-lapper, Lindblad began to fall back into the clutches of Shin and Brown.

The trio fought tooth and nail, but Lindblad did enough to hold sway.

Behind him and Shin, Brown’s front wing gave way after contact with Shin at the penultimate corner on the second-to-last lap.

The Supercars champion plummeted from fourth to 11th. His Supercars teammate Broc Feeney was only 10th after a slow start from seventh on the grid.

Lindblad’s second place finish was enough for him to win the title with two races to spare.

“It definitely wasn’t the easiest race of the championship so far,” said Lindblad.

“I wanted to get a really good start because I knew that was going to be critical for the result.

“The pace was good the first couple of laps. I was putting [Heuzenroeder] under pressure and then, I don’t know, something happened and all of a sudden I was really slow the second half of the race and it was just about trying to survive and get to the end.

“Regardless, really happy and grateful to M2 for the car this season and thank you to them.”

Heuzenroeder will start Sunday’s feature race, the 69th running of the New Zealand Grand Prix, from third behind Feeney and Brown.

He lamented his Q3 effort but remained optimistic he can move forward in the 27-lapper/

“That qualifying didn’t go quite to plan for me,” said Heuzenroeder.

“I would have liked to put it on pole like in Q1, but I think if I can get it off the line I can give the Supercars boys a run for their money and it’ll be a good race.”

Results: Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship Race 13, Highlands Motorsport Park