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TRS to become Formula Regional Oceania
The Toyota Racing Series has been granted full Formula Regional status by the FIA and will be re-branded ahead of its 2023 season.
Andrew van Leeuwen
Edited: Dec 13, 2022, 6:10 AM
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The New Zealand-based series will shed its Toyota Racing Series tag and now be known as the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship – certified by the FIA.
It will be one of seven FIA-approved FR series in the world along with the Middle East, India, Asia, North America, Europe and Japan.
The change in status formalises the category's plan on the FIA open-wheel ladder and will also see its FIA Superlicence haul increase from 10 to 18.
The series will continue to use the same Tatuus chassis and be powered by the same 270-horsepower Toyota engines.
It will also retain the rapid-fire January/February schedule that allows international drivers to bank both miles and Superlicence points before returning to Europe for the Northern Hemisphere summer.
"The Castrol TRS championship has always been a hugely significant one on the junior formulae calendar and traditionally attracts an extremely high quality field of drivers," said Nicolas Caillol, Toyota Gazoo Racing New Zealand Manager.
"The new status of the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship brings more clarity on where the category stands in the pathway to F1 created by the FIA.
"Thanks to significant investment from Toyota over the years and the way the championship has evolved this will be the cheapest and most competitive option available at this level for drivers and junior teams.
“We have identical state of the art cars fully FIA compliant on safety and performance with engine performance controlled by Toyota. We have four-highly experienced contracted teams that run the cars and we know the championship always favours the best drivers and those who gel most effectively with their engineers, which is how a championship at this level should be.
“Those qualities and easier accessibility as a major junior championship will be the building blocks of what is a very exciting future as the major single-seater championship in the Oceania region.
"It is also fantastic to be taking our long time title sponsor Castrol on this next phase of our journey. They are as passionate about motorsport as we are."
Formula Regional Oceania is eyeing a return to normality early next year after its 2021 and 2022 seasons were heavily affected by the pandemic and NZ's strict border controls.
Roughly 14 entries are expected to take part in the five-round 2023 season, which kicks off at Highlands Motorsport Park on January 13-15.
That number is expected to then grow for the New Zealand Grand Prix, which will be the fourth round of the season at Hampton Downs on February 3-5.
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