Motorsport: Thomas McLean sets goal at midget nationals

Thomas McLean, Whangarei TQ racer, aims to finish in the top half of the field at the National TQ Championships starting tomorrow in Christchurch.

Time is up for Whangarei driver Thomas McLean as he readies himself to take on a field of 50 at the National TQ Championships, starting tomorrow.

The 16-year-old McLean hopes to finish somewhere in the top half of the field, not bad for a teenager in his rookie season of racing the TQ midgets.

"There are 50 cars going to the nationals, so if I can get inside the top half I'll be rapt, we can't expect too much with it being our first season." McLean said.

He will be attending with four other drivers under the umbrella of experienced team Harris Racecars, owned by Gary Harris, but on the track it's each to his own.

"We're not going to go out there and do anything stupid but when we are on the track there's no such thing as teammates, you don't want to give an inch, it's every man for himself."

McLean's mother, Carolyn, said she wasn't worried about his safety on the course, saying that he wouldn't have got this far if he wasn't safe.

She added that it was a surprise to be attending the national championships in his debut season.

"We weren't going to go all the way down there in his rookie season," Carolyn said.

"But when he managed to beat No2 driver Paul Le Cren off the mark, Gary [Harris] said he was going to Christchurch."

Racing in his first season at Western Springs, in Auckland, McLean has made his way through nine rounds of the 12 held at the stadium so far - showing he can more than hold his own.

He is the leading rookie in the Western Springs TQ Midget series, sitting first in Class B and holding seventh place overall.

The New Zealand TQ Championship is being held at Ruapuna Speedway, just outside Christchurch, tomorrow and Saturday.

After the nationals, McLean will head back to continue with his campaign at Western Springs.

This month, he had the joy of competing in front of his home crowd at Whangarei Speedway for the first time.

Of a karting background, the Whangarei Boys' High School year 12 student aims to be a Nascar driver one day - having already had a taste of the American racing scene.

McLean visited Illinois, where he was invited to compete in his kart as an introduction to the North American racing scene as a step towards his goal of racing professionally in Nascar.

"I've been going to the speedway since I was about 4 weeks old and moving into a TQ has definitely brought us closer to Nascar, one step closer to that dream," he said.