Teenager Liam Sceats is the latest in an ever rising number of New Zealand drivers earning their name on the world scene.
The 18 year old is in the United States attempting to break into one of the feeder events for IndyCars.
Sceats won the New Zealand Grand Prix this summer and finished second overall in the Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship.
He thanks the New Zealand series for putting him on his new course.
“It attracts top international drivers from all over the world and it’s a valuable stepping stone not just for Kiwi drivers but all the other drivers from around the world allowing them to compete during their winter,” Sceats told RNZ.
Winners of the Regional Oceania Championship over the years include Mitch Evans, Nick Cassidy, Lance Stroll, Lando Norris and Liam Lawson.
“Most New Zealand drivers that are achieving big things overseas have all gone through this competition and so it’s played a massive part in kick starting their careers.
“It was crucial and valuable in the stepping stone for my career.”
Sceats is now in New Orleans testing for the Australian TJ Speed Motorsports team and if he can acquire the funding he needs is hoping to participate full-time in the USF pro 2000 series, which is the third level of open wheel racing in the United States below IndyCars and Indy NXT.
“I’d love to compete in IndyCar, that’s the focus now and I’d love to climb through the ranks into Indy NXT and then eventually to be in IndyCar one day.”
Sceats started karting at the Mt Wellington Club when he was six and did it here and in Australia for ten years.
He subsequently moved into Formula Ford in 2020 and then in 2023 headed into the Formula Regional Championship in both New Zealand and Japan.
If successful in his trip to IndyCars he’ll join fellow New Zealanders Scott Dixon (six-time champion), Scott McLaughlin and Marcus Armstrong in the championship.
Sceats claimed Formula One was never the major goal when he was younger, he just wanted to be a professional driver and it was his father Simon (who was a national production car champion) that he looked up to.
He has spoken to the likes of Nick Cassidy and Liam Lawson in recent times who have offered a few words of advise.
Lawson will of course be on track as a Red Bull reserve driver when the F1 season gets underway in Bahrain this weekend.
However it’s the F2 and F3 races that he’s most interested in as they’ll involve several of the racers Sceats has faced personally in New Zealand like Australian Christian Mansell, Austrian Charlie Wurz and Dutchman Laurens van Hoepen.
“I’ll be following them more closely because I have an existing relationship with them and it’ll be cool to see them go well.”
“Motorsport is a tough game, it’s cut throat but it’s always been that way and you have to perform in order for opportunities to come your way.”
Sceats will ideally be racing in the support races to the opening IndyCar round in Florida on 10 March.
