Brown wins New Zealand Grand Prix to break 50-year drought

Brown led from lights to flag, pipping his Red Bull Ampol Racing teammate Broc Feeney at the start and never looked back.

Brown led home Kiwi up-and-comer Zack Scoular by 0.963s and Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad who was 1.860s in arrears at the chequered flag.

The 27-lap race, which lasted just shy of 44 minutes, featured just one Safety Car intervention.

Brown becomes the first Australian to win the New Zealand Grand Prix since Warwick Brown’s win in 1975 at Pukekohe Park in the Tasman Series era.

The Supercars star of Red Bull Ampol Raicng fame said he was worried about how the start would go.

“That’s what I was nervous about It was running through my head for about the last three hours, how to get a good start here and if I could beat Broc off the line and then I could manage the race from there,” Brown said.

The 26-year-old said he had to conserve from the outset after an early warning for bad sportsmanship after shortcutting the bridge chicane.

“I had a big moment on Lap 1 going through Turn 10 there over the bridge and got a bad sportsmanship flag, so I couldn’t cut there anymore, so I had to just manage it from there.

“But Zack was super fast. He was always there, didn’t want to make a mistake, but it was a cool race. Pretty cool to win a grand prix.”

At the start, Brown got the hole shot into the bus stop chicane, leaving Feeney in his wake.

Second row starter Scoular was the surprise packet initially, going around the outside of Feeney to snag second place.

Feeney looked like he might threaten to get by Scoular but found himself vulnerable to Shawn Rashid and lost out to the American at the last turn.

On Lap 2, the Safety Car was drawn when Enzo Yeh bowled through the gravel trap as the esses and rejoined the road into the path of James Lawley.

Lawley’s car spun while Yeh suffered damage to his right front suspension and parked up near the tree on the infield.

The race restarted on Lap 6 with Brown ahead of Scoular, Rashid, Feeney, and Lindblad.

On Lap 9, Patrick Heuzenroeder pitted with damage to his car after he hit the wall out of the second-to-last turn.

There were strange scenes on Lap 14 when the shock cover on Rashid’s car suddenly popped open.

Moments later, Feeney put a pass on Rashid at the last turn – returning serve after the earlier move in the race.

Feeney’s time in third place was short-lived, however. At the hairpin, the Supercars star made an unforced error and went wide on corner exit.

That opened the door for Rashid, Lindblad, and even Michael Shin to pass. In a moment, Feeney fell from third to sixth.

Rashid’s ceded the final place on the podium on Lap 17 when Lindblad pulled off a bold divebomb at the hairpin to snatch third spot away.

While all that was happening, Brown’s lead seesawed around the one-second mark over Scoular.

Measured in his approach, Brown set his personal best time on Lap 24 of 27. Ultimately, he was unchallenged and came across the line just under a second clear of Scoular.

“I was able to manage a really good lead in that first lap,” said Brown.

“I was able to build a second or two there, and I was hoping it stayed that way, but then I saw the Safety Car come out, and I thought, ‘Oh, this won’t be real good’ but was able to build a bit more of a gap.

“This category’s been great. I’ve loved racing out here in the open-wheelers again. All the New Zealand fans have been great.”

Results: Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship New Zealand Grand Prix, Highlands Motorsport Park