New Zealand’s young single-seater star Liam Lawson heads back to Australia this weekend for the Formula 4 series, which resumes at Queensland Raceway following a mid-winter break.
Lawson led the championship through the first 11 races and starts the next round just one point behind last year’s F4 runner-up Nick Rowe.
During the break from racing in Australia, the 15-year-old from Pukekohe also got his first taste of driving a local Toyota Racing Series car for the first time.
Although not able to race that car until he turns 16-years-old, Lawson’s championship leading streak in Australian Formula 4 car led to an offer by the TRS organisers to test their car at the Hampton Downs circuit.
“The TRS car is much more powerful than the F4 car and was just amazing to drive. Absolutely loved it,” said Lawson, who dreams of one day of driving the car in the local series and the New Zealand Grand Prix.
Watching Lawson’s first stint in the Toyota Racing Series car was his mentor, legendary single-seater champion Ken Smith.
“I’m very impressed at how quickly Liam picked up driving the car,” said Smith.
“He did a terrific lap time and showed he could be very, very competitive. After just a few laps he looked so good in the car, you’d have thought he’d driven 10 meetings in it, not just 20 laps.”
Meanwhile, Lawson is focused on regaining the lead in the CAMS Jayco Australian Formula 4 Championship, which has three rounds to go, all of which are support to the V8 Supercars championship.
“Continuing to bag good points at each round has been the key to leading the championship early on, so I just want to keep on doing that and hopefully the overall result will come,” said Lawson.
Qualifying for the Formula 4 cars is this Friday, with two races on Saturday and a single race on Sunday. All racing will be televised live as part of the V8 Supercars coverage on Sky Sport.
In the intervening weeks between rounds Lawson has been feverishly working away to gather further financial support for his title bid and is delighted to have Christchurch traffic management firm Men At Work among his new supporters.
Lawson’s Australian Formula 4 campaign is proudly supported leading sponsor RetroCar.co.nz, along with the Giltrap Group, NZ Childcare Finance, BG World Wheels, Archibalds, Maugers, TACCOC, Cyrus International Cargo and Showerdome.