New Zealand motorsport is in the midst of a golden age
There’s a Kiwi racing in Formula One with the Racing Bulls team, and another in the World Rally Championship with Hyundai. There are three Kiwis racing in America’s Indycar championship, and one causing a stir in Nascar. This has never happened before.
But while the exploits and careers of Liam Lawson, Hayden Paddon, Scott Dixon, Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Armstrong and Shane van Gisbergen will be well known to local motorsport fans, the next wave of racers is rising fast.
For local race drivers, the annual Toyota Racing Series is the best way to get noticed by overseas race teams and talent-spotters. Now in its 21st year and known as the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy (CTFROT), the series pits local racers against the best overseas race talent – most notably, people like 2025 Formula OneWorld Champion Lando Norris. Liam Lawson, Marcus Armstrong and Shane van Gisbergen are all graduates of CTFROT; Lawson having won the championship and the other two having finished runner-up.
This year, in a strong grid of 19 drivers and cars run by six teams, four Kiwis with very different career paths were racing.
Seb Manson is the least-experienced of the four Kiwis. Manson, 18, competed in five races last season in the championship during a Formula Ford season when he won the South Island Championship and took seven wins and 11 podiums in the National Formula Ford Championship. Manson had his CTFROT debut in 2025, scoring his first win at that level at the Hampton Downs round.
Zack Scoular finished 15th overall out of 33 drivers in his rookie year of the ROKiT British Formula Four Championship and fifth in the Rookie Cup. He earned one overall podium – with a season’s best finish of third at Brands Hatch Indy – and seven Rookie Cup podiums. Runner-up in CTFROT in 2025, Scoular holds dual New Zealand and Australian nationality and is based in the United Arab Emirates.
For the 2026 series, he won the Tony Quinn Foundation Scholarship prize of $70,000 which he put towards his championship campaign with MTEC Motorsport. 
Louis Sharp is arguably one of New Zealand’s hottest single seater prospects and will compete in FIA F3 in 2026 with Prema Racing.
Sharp is a genuine rising star and arguably one of New Zealand’s hottest single seater prospects and will compete in FIA F3 in 2026. Born in Nottingham in the UK, he grew up in Christchurch and began karting at just six years old, quickly rising through the ranks to become the country’s best age group karter by 12 years old.
Ryan Wood is already shaking up the established order in the Australian V8 Supercar Championship. Backed by Tony Quinn Foundation, Wood raced in CTFROT with leading team mtec Motorsport.
Wood is no stranger to New Zealand circuits, having cut a successful path through karting and the Toyota 86 Championship before moving to Australia to race Porsches and Super 2 V8s before making the move to Supercars.
He will race one of the new Toyota Supra V8 Supercars for the Walkinshaw team in 2026.
Also out there representing New Zealand are Porsche drivers Tom Bewley (Carrera Cup Australia), Marco Giltrap (Carrera Cup Asia), and Ryan Yardley (Porsche North America).
Another graduate of the Toyotas, Nick Cassidy, is a multiple winner of the New Zealand Grand Prix. He has been an outstanding racer in Japan’s Formula GT along with a race winner for Jaguar in Formula E. This year, Cassidy races for Citroen in Formula E and will also contest the World Endurance Championship with Peugeot.