The 2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy is the inaugural Formula Regional Oceania Trophy and the twenty-first running of the premier open-wheel motorsport category formerly known as the Toyota Racing Series. Known since 2023 as the Formula Regional Oceania Championship, the series was rebranded under the Trophy guise after the FIA introduced a new concept for single-seater championships held over shorter, constrained timeframes. [1] [2] The championship is held in New Zealand over four consecutive weekends in January and February of 2026.
The highest placed Australian or Kiwi driver at the end of the season will be awarded the Tasman Cup.
All drivers compete with identical Tatuus FT-60 chassis cars powered by 2.0L turbocharged Toyota engines running on 100% fossil-free fuel. [3] [4] The 2026 season saw the introduction of a push-to-pass feature designed to create more on-track battles and overtakes. [5]
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The 2026 race calendar was announced in July 2025. [28] The adoption of the Formula Regional Trophy format saw the number of race weekends reduced to four, with the race tally staying at 15 races. [29] To achieve this, the weekend format of the opening three rounds was changed, with each round holding four races. [5] The reduction in venues saw Circuit Chris Amon leave the calendar for the first time since 2022.
| Round | Circuit | Date | Feature race | Support bill | Map of circuit locations | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | R1 | Hampton Downs Motorsport Park (Hampton Downs, North Waikato) | 10 January | Dorothy Smith Memorial Cup | GT Racing New Zealand Bridgestone GR86 Championship New Zealand Porsche Series Championship | |
| R2 | ||||||
| R3 | 11 January | |||||
| R4 | ||||||
| 2 | R1 | Taupo International Motorsport Park (Taupō, Waikato) | 17 January | Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy | Historic Saloons, Sports, and GTs NZ Historic Sports Sedans Heritage Touring Cars New Zealand Formula Atlantic NZ Historic Historic & Vintage Racing Association NZ | |
| R2 | ||||||
| R3 | 18 January | |||||
| R4 | ||||||
| 3 | R1 | Teretonga Park (Invercargill, Southland District) | 24 January | Spirit of a Nation Cup | Bridgestone GR86 Championship NZ Mazda Pro7 Racing New Zealand Super GT New Zealand Race Series TA2 NZ Championship NZ Formula Ford Championship | |
| R2 | ||||||
| R3 | 25 January | |||||
| R4 | ||||||
| 4 | R1 | Highlands Motorsport Park (Cromwell, Otago) | 30 January – 1 February | New Zealand Grand Prix | Bridgestone GR86 Championship TA2 NZ Championship Super GT New Zealand Race Series Formula Atlantic NZ Historic | |
| R2 | ||||||
| R3 | ||||||
| Round | Circuit | Pole position | Fastest lap | Winning driver | Winning team | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | R1 | Hampton Downs Motorsport Park |  Ugo Ugochukwu | Ugo Ugochukwu |  Louis Sharp | mtec Motorsport |
| R2 |  Ernesto Rivera | Zack Scoular | mtec Motorsport | |||
| R3 | Zack Scoular | Ugo Ugochukwu | M2 Competition | |||
| R4 | Ugo Ugochukwu |  Jin Nakamura | Ugo Ugochukwu | M2 Competition | ||
| 2 | R1 | Taupo International Motorsport Park | Ryan Wood | Ryan Wood | Ryan Wood | mtec Motorsport |
| R2 | Zack Scoular |  James Wharton | HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed | |||
| R3 | Zack Scoular | Zack Scoular | mtec Motorsport | |||
| R4 | Jack Taylor | Ryan Wood | Ryan Wood | mtec Motorsport | ||
| 3 | R1 | Teretonga Park | ||||
| R2 | ||||||
| R3 | ||||||
| R4 | ||||||
| 4 | R1 | Highlands Motorsport Park | ||||
| R2 | ||||||
| R3 | ||||||
The 2026 season began at Hampton Downs with M2's Ugo Ugochukwu on pole position for the season opener. [30] Mtec Motorsport's Louis Sharp started alongside him and took the lead right away at the start, while Hitech TGR's Kanato Le slotted into third. Ugochukwu kept within one second of the leader throughout the race, but was unable to mount an attack. [31] Kiwi Motorsport’s Yevan David started race two from reversed-grid pole position, but the second grid spot proved to be better once again as mtec's Zack Scoular moved past him off the line. After a short safety car, David was attacked by Hitech's Jin Nakamura and locked up, letting Nakamura and M2's Freddie Slater past. By that point, Scoular had built a gap that saw him able to take the win. [32] Race three had M2's Ernesto Rivera on pole position, but a slow start saw him drop to third behind Le and Ugochukwu. The latter then took the lead on lap eight, holding off Le after a safety car to claim victory. [33] Ugochukwu also claimed pole position for the feature race, [34] retaining the lead at the start before a four-car crash caused a red flag. He held off Nakamura and Le after the restart to take victory again and end the weekend with an 18-point championship lead. [35]
Mtec's Ryan Wood claimed pole position ahead of Ugochukwu for the first race at Taupo. The pair went side-by-side at the start, but Wood managed to stay ahead and began building a gap to claim victory by 2.5 seconds. Ugochukwu came under pressure by Scoular before the latter locked up and handed the final podium spot to Slater. Le started the reversed-grid race two on pole position and held off Rivera at the start, allowing Wharton to get past the Mexican into turn two. Wharton then quickly closed up to the leader and pressured him until the Japanese made a mistake on lap seven and Wharton moved into first place. Le tumbled down the order afterwards, finishing in seventh, while Rivera and Ugochukwu completed the podium behind Wharton. [36] Scoular started race three from the front, and used his fresher tyres to stay there after defending from Slater and Wood. While battles were fought all throughout the race, the top three remained static until the end. [37] Giles Motorsport's Jack Taylor was fastest in qualifying for the feature race, but Wood took the lead right away and never looked back, taking victory ahead of Le and Sharp. Ugochukwu came fourth, his championship lead now 31 points over Le and Sharp. [38]
The adoption of the Formula Regional Trophy format that saw a fourth race added to the first three rounds of the season prompted a change in the weekend format of these three rounds. Two qualifying sessions are now held at each weekend, with the first session forming the grid for the first race and the second the grid for the fourth race. The grid for the second race is formed by reversing the top eight finishers of race one, while the grid for the third race is formed by taking the fastest lap of each drivers set during the first two races.
The fourth round of the year will retain the format previously used for the New Zealand Grand Prix: One qualifying session will be held, divided into three parts, with the slowest cars eliminated after the end of each segment. The results of this session will form the grid for the Grand Prix, while the results of Q1 will form the grid for the first race and the grid for the second race will be formed by reversing the top eight finishers of race one. [39]
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th | 15th | 16th | 17th | 18th | 19th | 20th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 35 | 31 | 27 | 24 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th | 15th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 20 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
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Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap † — Did not finish, but classified (completed more than 75% of race distance)
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Each team counts its two best results of every race.
| Pos. | Team | HMP | TAU | TER | HIG | Points | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R1 | R2 | R3 | |||
| 1 | M2 Competition | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 375 | |||||||
| 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 7 | ||||||||||
| 2 | mtec Motorsport | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 370 | |||||||
| 4 | 4 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||
| 3 |  Hitech TGR | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 325 | |||||||
| 5 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 5 | ||||||||||
| 4 | HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed | 10 | 11 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 165 | |||||||
| 16 | 15 | 16 | 13 | 14 | 9 | 16 | 16 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Giles Motorsport | 14 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 133 | |||||||
| 15 | 10 | 14 | Ret | 15 | 13 | 13 | 11 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Kiwi Motorsport | 8 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 11 | 16 | 8 | 13 | 122 | |||||||
| Ret | 8 | 15 | Ret | 18 | 18 | 10 | 15 | ||||||||||
| Pos. | Team | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R1 | R2 | R3 | Points |
| HMP | TAU | TER | HIG | ||||||||||||||
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