Maloney’s improved consistency key to both 2024 title leads says Huntingford

Rodin Motorsport Team Manager Benn Huntingford has reflected on a positive weekend for his squad after Zane Maloney finished on the podium in Melbourne Feature and Ritomo Miyata scored points in both races.

It has been a strong start to the season for the Surrey-based team, one that they currently lead the way in the Teams’ Standings, now on 78 points after the first three rounds of the year.

This form has been aided by Maloney’s positive opening performances, winning both races in Bahrain, adding two points finishes in Jeddah before the Bajan driver took P3 in the Melbourne Feature Race.

On the other side of the Rodin garage, Miyata enjoyed his strongest weekend of the year by finishing in fifth in both the Sprint and Feature Races.

Reflecting on the weekend, Huntingford said: “It was good weekend for us, and it was really good for us to come out of this part of the season and to go back into Europe still with Zane in the Championship lead, so really happy with how this weekend has gone.”

Maloney sits at the top of the Standings with 62 points, 15 ahead of his nearest rival in Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Paul Aron. This represents a huge step up from his rookie year in 2023, when at the same stage the Boy from Barbados had just 29 points.

Huntingford says this is down to the improvements Maloney has made over the last year with the 2024 driver making fewer mistakes than the 2023 version.

“He's been much more consistent,” the Rodin Team Manager continued. “Some of the rookie mistakes and things that happened last season we aren't seeing so much this season, which is really good and that all adds up to keeping us at the front.”

As for Miyata, the Japanese driver has been open in admitting that he is still learning the car, the team, tyres, and plenty more as he becomes accustomed to life in Formula 2.

After a trying weekend in Jeddah – where he scored no points – Miyata produced strong drives from P12 on the grid in both the Sprint and Feature Races to score solid points.

This leaves the Japanese racer 10th in the Drivers’ Standings and fourth in the battle for top rookie honours – behind Aron, Campos Racing’s Josep María Martí and PREMA Racing driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

READ MORE: Miyata praises ‘supportive’ Rodin after scoring P5 finish in Melbourne Feature Race

His pace in Melbourne though was no surprise to Huntingford and Rodin, as they knew they had a strong driver coming into the year, one they believe will get stronger the more time he spends driving F2 machinery.

But Miyata will have to wait until Imola in May for Round 4 before getting his next competitive runout in a Formula 2 car, although he will get more time behind the wheel at the Barcelona in-season test on April 23-25.

The plan for Rodin following Melbourne until then is simply to analyse the first few rounds and prepare for the European leg of the season, as the team look to maintain their advantage out in front.

Huntingford said of the break: “We will go back, go through things prepare for the tests, try and fill in any gaps we've got with what we feel like we need to learn with the new car. Try and carry all that forwards and keep going into the European season with the same form.”