2026 New Zealand Grand Prix
Race 3, Round 4 of 4 of the 2026 Formula Regional Oceania Trophy
Race details
Date	1 February 2026
Official name	LXX New Zealand Grand Prix
Location	Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell, New Zealand
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.100 km (2.548 miles)
Distance	28 laps, 114.8 km (71.3 miles)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Jin Nakamura	Hitech TGR
Time	1:28.339

The 2026 New Zealand Grand Prix (officially known as the NAPA 70th New Zealand Grand Prix) is an ongoing event for open wheel racing cars held at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell, Otago on 1 February 2026. It will be the seventieth New Zealand Grand Prix and will utilise Formula Regional cars. The event will serve as the final race of the 2026 Formula Regional Oceania Trophy.

Contents

• Background
• Qualifying
• Qualifying classification
• Race
• References

Background

The event was held at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell for the third time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 30 January–1 February. The Grand Prix was the final race of the final round of the 2026 Formula Regional Oceania Trophy and the 70th running of the New Zealand Grand Prix.

Heading into the weekend, six drivers were in contention for the overall Formula Regional Oceania Trophy title. American Ugo Ugochukwu led the championship standings by 22 points over Audi Formula 1 junior driver, Freddie Slater. ^[1] Owing to inclement weather conditions in the final race of the previous round in Teretonga, an additional race was positioned on Friday. Slater took victory in said race, closing the points deficit to Ugochukwu by four points. ^[2]

Outside of the 19-driver contingent that competed throughout the FROT season, only one other driver (Liam Sceats) signed on to compete in the Grand Prix. Sceats had previously won the Grand Prix in the first iteration at Highlands in 2024. ^[3]

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on 31 January 2026, at 11:43 local time (UTC+12:00)

Qualifying classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	12	Jin Nakamura	Hitech TGR	1:28.704	1:28.940	1:28.339	1
2	40	Ryan Wood	mtec Motorsport	1:28.796	1:28.762	1:28.439	2
3	4	Ugo Ugochukwu	M2 Competition	1:28.718	1:28.918	1:28.487	14 1
4	3	Zack Scoular	mtec Motorsport	1:28.790	1:28.702	1:28.554	3
5	19	Kanato Le	Hitech TGR	1:29.032	1:28.639	1:28.556	4
6	27	Freddie Slater	M2 Competition	1:28.821	1:28.486	1:28.599	5
7	11	Louis Sharp	mtec Motorsport	1:28.718	1:28.943	1:28.625	6
8	23	Liam Sceats	HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed	1:28.930	1:28.764	1:28.646	7
9	24	Ernesto Rivera	M2 Competition	1:29.008	1:29.070	N/A	8
10	22	Sebastian Manson	M2 Competition	1:29.158	1:29.070	N/A	9
11	13	James Wharton	HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed	1:28.946	1:29.073	N/A	10
12	52	Nolan Allaer	Giles Motorsport	1:29.011	1:29.133	N/A	11
13	5	Yuanpu Cui	mtec Motorsport	1:29.149	1:29.186	N/A	12
14	21	Yevan David	Kiwi Motorsport	1:29.137	1:29.423	N/A	13
15	33	Fionn McLaughlin	Hitech TGR	1:29.400	N/A	N/A	15
16	14	Cooper Shipman	Kiwi Motorsport	1:29.521	N/A	N/A	16
17	41	Ricardo Baptista	HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed	1:29.545	N/A	N/A	17
18	50	Jack Taylor	Giles Motorsport	1:29.678	N/A	N/A	18
19	8	Trevor LaTourrette	HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed	1:30.713	N/A	N/A	19
Source: [4] [5] [6]

Notes

• ^1 – Ugo Ugochukwu qualified 3rd, but was required to start the race from fourteenth for a technical breach relating to wishbone covers. ^[7]

Race

The race will be held on 1 February 2026, at 16:33 local time (UTC+12:00), and will run for 27 laps.

References