Scoular finished 10th and third in the weekend’s two other races to sit third overall on 68 points behind Matias Zagazeta (73) and championship leader Arvid Lindblad (78).
Lindblad is one of two Red Bull Racing-backed drivers in the field with the other being Supercars champion Will Brown.
There are also a number of rising international junior formula category stars such as Americans Nikita Johnson and Josh Pierson, South Korean Michael Shin and Australian Patrick Heuzenroeder.
“It was a bit of a surprise to me,” Scoular said. “In testing, we were top five and made some improvements. I went away thinking about what I needed to do differently and came back for qualifying.
“Everything felt just right but I wasn’t expecting my engineer to come over the radio and be going ape, saying we were on pole.
“During the race, I got a good start and managed to stay in front of everyone else and get my first win. I didn’t qualify as well for the second race, as I couldn’t get it together, which sucked a bit. We did much better in race three, ending on the podium, so overall, a strong weekend.”
Heading to Hampton Downs this weekend, Scoular is happy, as he has enjoyed some success there previously. It’s a completely different circuit to Taupō, with more undulation and passing opportunities.
“I really like Hampton Downs. This is the track where I won the shootout for the Tony Quinn Foundation prize.
“I can go into this weekend confident I can get some good results. If we can keep the momentum going, we should have another strong weekend.
“The track is completely different to Taupō and the deg [tyre degradation] is a lot lower than Taupō and we’ll have to see what we do about tyre management. Racing around here should be better, with the two long straights and heavy braking at the hairpin.
“However, the quality of field is really strong. I knew it was going to be hard when I saw the names coming out. To win against these sorts of drivers is pretty special.”
Pitting yourself against a strong field that includes a Supercars champion, a Red Bull junior and an IndyNXT driver, as well as other fast racers, can only bode well as a benchmark for where Scoular sits internationally.
“It’s been a strong start to 2025 for me and it’s something to build on and keep on learning. These guys set a really good benchmark and it’s good to see where you sit when compared to them.
“If the grid wasn’t any good, you can be winning all the time, but you never know where you can place yourself. On a grid like this, you sort of get a good idea where you fit with the really good drivers.”
