NextGen NZ Championship coming to Teretonga
Southerners are in for a treat when Round 5 of the Repco NextGen NZ Championship comes to Teretonga Park in Invercargill over the weekend of 1st & 2nd February.
The Ascot Park Hotel Teretonga Park International will see the return of top class international drivers with the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship (CTFROC) returning for the first time since 2023 with a fantastic support programme featuring the Bridgestone GR86 Championship, the Summerset GT New Zealand Championship, the Nexen Tyre NZ Mazda Racing Series and the Pirelli Porsches.
The CTFROC grid will see a field of seventeen drivers with some of New Zealand’s top talent facing some of the best up and coming drivers from around the globe. In past visits the series has allowed Southlanders to see future Formula 1 stars such as Lando Norris, Liam Lawson, Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsunoda and Franco Colapinto plus many others who have reached the pinnacle of world motorsport.
Exciting for Southlanders is the fact that local driver Alex Crosbie is in the field as he tackles the series for the second time. Crosbie finished fifth overall last season in his rookie campaign and has been racing with success in the US over the past months. He is part of a strong kiwi contingent who are up against drivers from Australia, the United States, Canada, Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Peru.
The contenders come from a multitude of championships around the world and many of them will be keen to emulate the feats of some of the series past alumni such as Norris, Tsunoda and Lawson.
One of the more prominent international drivers is Arvid Lindblad of the UK. A Red Bull F1 Team Junior, at just 17 years of age he has already had success in Italian F4 and F4 UAE and was fourth in the FIA Formula F3 Championship in 2024. He also won the F4 races at the Macau Grand Prix in 2023 so comes to New Zealand with strong form.
The Bridgestone GR86 Championship will see some of New Zealand’s best young talent along with a mix of some Australian competitors plus some more experienced drivers battling it out in identical Toyota GR86’s. The racing is always intense and don’t be surprised to see several different drivers on the podium throughout the weekend.
The Summerset GT New Zealand Championship will bring a field of glamourous marques such as BMW, Ginetta, McLaren, Porsche, Mercedes-AMG, Toyota and Ferrari to the track and their races are sure to be spectacular.
The Nexen Tyre NZ Mazda Racing Series always provides very close, hard racing while the Pirelli Porsche field will ensure that the entire weekend will provide some willing racing.
Tickets are now available from www.nextgennz.co.nz
