Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship: Rd.2

Heuzenroeder delivers again in Round 2 of CTFROC Championship
Hampton Downs Motorsport Park
19th January 2025

Australian Patrick Heuzenroeder once again delivered an impressive display of overtakes and race craft this past weekend at the CTFROC Championship held at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park. With some lengthy battles in what has been recognised as one of the most highly competitive fields for years, Heuzenroeder showcased why he is a name to watch in single seater racing.

Strong practice, consistently showing top 5 pace was a strong start to Round 2 for Patrick, ending Friday’s official practice sessions P3. Although, qualifying on Saturday morning didn’t quite reflect his pace with a P6 result, he used his on track pace to finish P5 in Race 1, the start of yet another weekend of overtakes, as the racing again demonstrated the difficulty in overtaking in these cars.

After qualifying on Sunday morning in P9 for the feature race later that afternoon in car he couldn’t quite get to work for him, Heuzenroeder started Race 2 in P4. After another strong start, something he is showing as a real strength this series, he passed around the outside to place himself P3. A long battle with Red Bull Junior Formula 2 Driver, Arvid Lindblad, saw great defending by Pat, including some classic wheel to wheel racing (https://lnkd.in/gk5Gy9Sd) until the experienced Lindblad squeezed up the inside the next lap. More great driving by Pat held o Supercar Champion Will Brown over multiple laps to hold onto P4. A shame not to be recognised with a podium but none the less, great pace and points to add to his collection.

The feature race saw yet another strong start with Heuzenroeder moving up to 7th from 9th, then cool, under pressure driving enabled him to be well placed to take advantage of a mistake by supercars champion Will Brown with a resulting P6.

Patrick:
“Another good weekend of racing where I was able to show I can race with guys who have had a lot more racing experience than me. I was disappointed in my qualifying pace as it leaves me with a lot of work to do in each race, but the pace is there and the consistent results and places gained in Race 3 keep me in the hunt. Manfeild will be a track where I hope I will have some strengths, so I am looking forward to it. I’m loving the racing and loving New Zealand!”

Pat takes the challenges of this weekend into Round 3 at Manfeild next weekend and will be looking to capitalize on the hard work in the o season for the last 3 rounds of CTFROC before his main European campaign begins.

About Patrick Heuzenroeder
Patrick embarked on his motorsport career at 13-years-old after a chance visit to Sydney’s Eastern Creek go-kart circuit ignited his passion for racing.

After kart racing in Australia for the following three years, Patrick made the jump to cars and circuit racing, competing in the 2022 NSW Formula Ford Championship where he was third overall in the standings before departing for the UK after his skill was recognised by Ferrari when Patrick earned a top six finals place from 24 competitors in the 2022 Ferrari Driver Academy Asia Pacific trials.

2023 brought a season in British Formula 4 where the highlight of multiple top ten finishes in a competitive field of more than 20 drivers was an impressive third place at the demanding Snetterton track in Norfolk. For 2024 he moved up a gear and into GB3, Britain’s top single seater series, where he once again established himself as a regular points scorer and top five finisher. Another podium finish in third at the annual ‘away’ round at the Zandvoort Grand Prix circuit helped him to an impressive 12th overall from more than 30 drivers.

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