Bilinski makes it four wins from six

Roman Bilinski has cemented his place at the top of the driver standings in the 2024 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship after producing two winning drives at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon.

The Polish driver showed he is a master of the wet weather as well as the dry as he dominated a shortened Dan Higgins Trophy race, the feature race of the second weekend of the championship.

It added to his success in the opening race of the meeting in Feilding and he has a 23-point advantage over Christian Mansell in the standings, with round three taking place at Hampton Downs International Motorsport Park from February 1-4.

Bilinski, pictured above right, now has four victories from the opening six races of the season and says he was delighted with his latest win that came in challenging conditions.

“Christian at the start was really fast,” he says. “We traded fastest laps and he made it really difficult for me but it’s great to get the win. 

“It was the right decision to stop the race as it was just too slippery out there but I am so pleased to win again.

“The team have given me a great car but we still need to push. There are three more rounds to go and everything is still up for grabs.”

The M2 Competition team member started the feature race from pole position and maintained that spot despite spells of racing under a safety car and worsening conditions as the rain continued to fall. 

Australian racer Mansell – in the last of his six races in this year’s championship – finished second, with Kiwi Liam Sceats completing the podium when the race was stopped after 21 laps of the intended 27.

Sceats also had to settle for third in the weekend’s opening encoutner when Bilinski took the chequered flag ahead of Italian Nicola Lacorte.

Mansell triumphed in race two at Feilding, finishing ahead of New Zealander Kaleb Ngatoa and Australian Tommy Smith respectively.

Driver standings

1. Roman Bilinski, 158 points
2. Christian Mansell, 135pts
3. Liam Sceats, 127pts
4. Kaleb Ngatoa, 108pts
5. Tommy Smith, 97pts