Sebastian Manson takes second Toyota FR Oceania victory in Teretonga sprint
The young Kiwi was the second driver this weekend to make their way back to the front of the Toyota FR Oceania grid.
Sebastian Manson took victory in the Toyota FR Oceania reverse-grid sprint race at Teretonga Park for his second trip to victory lane of the season.
The Kiwi made a great start to overtake polesitter Enzo Yeh, holding off pressure from countryman Zack Scoular and Australian Patrick Heuzenroeder to take victory.
"I needed to keep calm and just make sure I restarted well and followed all the rules, said Manson.
"I was aware of the pressure but just focussed on not overheating the rear tyre and looking after the front tyre."
Scoular's second-place finish gave him valuable points in the championship fight, drawing level second with American Nikita Johnson.
Further back, it was a tight battle into the first corner, with Canadian James Lawley running off track before spinning into the path of teammate Jett Bowling, the first on-track incident of the year.
Manson held his lead at the restart and the lead order began to consolidate. Behind them, championship leader Arvid Lindblad made a bold move around rival Matias Zagazeta for sixth position, while Nicholas Stati ran wide into the gravel in a battle for tenth with Tommy Smith and Michael Shin.
The safety car emerged once more for Shin's stranded Kiwi Motorsport FT-60, with Manson managing the field once again at the restart to finish ahead of Scoular and Heuzenroeder. Lindblad kept the pressure up on his rivals throughout the late stages of the race but crossed the line in sixth.
