Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell NZ
11th February 2025

Heuzenroeder finishes successful CTFROC campaign as he dominates NZ Grand Prix weekend, opening with pole position and lights to flag win. What a weekend the final round of the CTFROC Championship at Highlands Motorsport Park was for Heuzenroeder with a pole position and race win to top off a highly successful campaign which saw him consistently improve to the point where he was outpacing the Championship leader in the final round.

After five weeks of racing Heuzenroeder has firmly put his name on the world stage, showing incredible race craft with some fantastic battles with highly experienced Formula 2, Formula 3 , Indy NXT and Supercar drivers. The statistics are impressive: across 5 rounds, 15 races, 11 qualifying sessions and over 3,500km in the seat he finished 4th in the Championship, securing 2nd place in the Trans-Tasman Drivers Championship, took 4 podiums, finished in the top 5 in 9 out of the 13 races completed, and made over 35 on track passes in a Championship known for the difficulty in passing.

For the Grand Prix weekend, the young Australian showed impressive pace from the beginning and as a genuine contender for the 69th New Zealand Grand Prix, with official practice on Friday seeing him fastest overall with P1 and P2 around the challenging 4.1km Grand Prix track, and Race 1 pole position.

With the New Zealand Grand Prix taking place on the Sunday, Saturday’s qualifying session looked a little different. The first time in a Grand Prix knockout qualifying for the rising star, he topped the times in Q1, putting the number 5 on pole position for Race 1, ahead of Red Bull Junior and Formula 2 driver, Arvid Lindblad. For the second session, he put it P2 (only off by 0.003) progressing to the top 8 final qualifying session. Despite having to use an old tyre because of a puncture due to track debris in Q1, in the final qualifying Patrick certainly drew eyes to his talent, qualifying P3, a mere 0.18 seconds off pole, making it an Australian 1-2-3 behind Australian super car champion and vice-champion, Will Brown and Broc Feeney. An impressive qualifying session putting him the fastest of the drivers climbing the single seater ladder.

Saturday afternoon in Race 1, Heuzenroeder got a stellar start and with the jump on Lindblad, the field settled down and the polesitter had a clear road ahead. Never really challenged, by race end Heuzenroeder stretched his lead to a dominating 6.6 seconds, crossing the line to grab his first win after what was described as a world class drive.

Sunday morning’s reverse grid race 2, saw trouble for Heuzenroeder when after a mega start moving from P8 to challenge for P4, he was hit from behind forcing his first DNF of the season. At that stage sitting only a few points behind 2nd and 3rd in the Championship, this was compounded when he was handed a 3 grid place penalty for the Grand Prix after what numerous commentators and other drivers involved had described as being a first lap racing incident.

After a great effort from the team to repair Heuzenroeder’s car, he lined up P6 for the New Zealand Grand Prix. With the processional nature of the racing at this track meaning progress was always going to be difficult, after an initial safety car period, the slightest tap of a rear wheel after an unexpected snap of oversteer (possibly related to the Race 2 crash) on the ever-looming walls forced what was only his second retirement of the Championship.

A disappointing end after an incredible start to the final round, Heuzenroeder managed to cement his 4thposition overall in the championship, an outstanding result considering how damaging a DNF is in this championship and the initial qualifying mechanical issue which had occurred back at the start of the series which had set back his points chase right from Round 1.
Overall, an excellent Championship performance, giving Heuzenroeder enormous confidence as his focus now turns to the main game of European racing which will see him spearhead the Xcel Motorsport campaign in the GB3 Championship, the UK’s leading single seater championship, at tracks across Europe.