Crosbie’s Campaign Concludes

Invercargill driver Alex Crosbie ended his campaign in the 2025 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship (CTFROC) with a tenth-place finish in the 69th New Zealand Grand Prix at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell over the weekend.

It brought down the curtain on what many regard as the most talented field ever assembled for the series.

The final round at the 4.01‑kilometre Highlands layout started well on Thursday when Crosbie recorded the fastest lap of the day across the two test sessions in his Castrol Toyota FT‑60.

“I had pace on the others and hoped to improve in Friday’s practice sessions, but the pace plateaued,” said Alex, who recorded times good enough for sixth, eleventh, and twelfth places throughout the day’s three sessions.

Qualifying on Saturday was held in three parts. With the fifteenth‑fastest time in the first part, Crosbie did not proceed further, meaning he would start from fifteenth in both the opening race on Saturday afternoon and in the New Zealand Grand Prix on Sunday. Race 2 grid positions were decided based on the results of Race 1, with the top eight starting in reverse order. The session left Crosbie perplexed:

“The car was good and I felt fast, it just did not translate to a better time. I was pretty disappointed as I would have liked to have been in that top eight for the Grand Prix.”

In Saturday’s opening race, Crosbie lost two places off the start and banged wheels with American Barrett Wolfe before ending the lap in sixteenth. He regained a spot at the mid‑point of the race but then took a ten‑second penalty for exceeding track limits, which dropped him back to sixteenth at the end of the race.

Following the previous day’s penalty, Crosbie started sixteenth in Sunday’s first race. He made a good start, but a big crash early in the race saw him take to the grass to avoid the carnage. Several cars were out on the spot, and the safety car was deployed for several laps. At the restart, Crosbie found himself behind Wolfe and Australian Supercar star Broc Feeney. He got past Feeney into turn nine and battled with Wolfe all the way to the flag, drawing alongside at one point before ultimately finishing tenth behind him.

The New Zealand Grand Prix—the country’s most prestigious motor race—was the series finale, and Crosbie was fifteenth on the grid. He chased Enzo Yeh of Chinese Taipei initially until Yeh left the track. He then followed Nicholas Monteiro of Brazil and Nicolas Stati of Australia until Stati made a move on Monteiro at turn 12. In doing so, Stati nudged Monteiro, and Crosbie passed both. He then showed he had the speed to catch the next pack further up the road, clawing back nearly ten seconds to finish less than one second behind fellow Kiwi Sebastian Manson at the flag.

“I needed one more lap to try and make a move,” said Alex.

As the series ended, Alex expressed his gratitude to Giles Motorsport, his engineer and mechanics, and to Castrol for their support in sponsoring him and allowing him to run the green and red colours. He also appreciated the additional support for his campaign from Stresscrete Southland, the Peter H McMillan Legacy Fund, Kiwi Skips, Invercargill Hose and Hydraulics, Kiwi Driver Fund, and Golden Homes in the Southern Lakes.