Wurz clinches championship
Austrian Charlie Wurz has been crowned the winner of the 2023 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship after clinching victory in the final race of the campaign.
His success on February 12 delivered him his first major junior formulae championship and 18 FIA Super Licence points as he seeks to follow his father, Alexander, into a career in Formula 1.
Wurz, pictured, had a troubled Saturday at Taupo Motorsport Park but rediscovered his form the following day. He finished third in the morning’s reverse-grid race to reclaim the championship lead, took pole position for the last race then led from start to finish in the Denny Hulme Trophy finale.
New Zealand driver Callum Hedge, who had a three-point lead in the fight for the title on Sunday morning, could do nothing and had to settle for second spot in the championship.
“I can’t feel any better,” said Wurz afterwards. “That race was the most difficult to win of this championship for me because it started raining a lot, I was so afraid of going off and I had to keep Laurens [van Hoepen] behind me.
“Luckily I got a bit of a gap and could relax a bit but then the safety car came out and I thought, ‘Oh no’, so I had to get it all right in the restart but fortunately it was okay.
“This gives me a lot of confidence going into Europe. I know the competition is tough over there, but it has been strong here. I’ve learned a lot about racing in New Zealand.”
Wurz finished the final race of the season ahead of van Hoepen from the Netherlands and New Zealand’s James Penrose, respectively.
In the earlier action from the Taupo round, Hedge won the opening race with Louis Foster in second and van Hoepen taking third.
American racer Chloe Chambers made history in the second race of the meeting after starting on pole and delivering a lights-to-flag victory.
In doing so she became the first woman to win a race in the 18-year history of New Zealand’s premier single-seater Toyota championship and is also the first woman to triumph in a race in any of the FIA’s global Formula Regional championships.
Kaleb Ngatoa was runner-up in race two, with Wurz completing the podium.
Final standings
1. Charlie Wurz (Austria), 343 points
2. Callum Hedge (New Zealand), 329pts
3. Jacob Abel (US), 265pts
4. Liam Sceats (New Zealand), 245pts
5. James Penrose (New Zealand), 214pts
