KEY POINTS:
Ambitious young New Zealand karters have been moving up the motor racing ladder to the junior single-seater car classes since the early 1980s. But none has had quite the track record or career momentum of 13-year-old Aucklander Mitchell Evans.
Evans made his national motor racing series debut at the opening round of the 2007/08 New Zealand Formula First championship at Taupo over Labour Weekend and to say that he is well qualified is an understatement.
In the six years he has been karting he has won everything from club championships to national championships. Included on the list is the Mt Wellington Kart Club's Cadet class title when he was just seven years of age, the New Zealand Junior 100cc Yamaha Restricted title when he was 10, the CIK Trophy of New Zealand Formula Junior title when he was 12, and the 2007 Rotax Max Challenge of New Zealand Formula Junior title when he was 13.
Such has been his progress that he has consistently been the youngest driver competing for a particular class title, a point no better illustrated than this year when the organisers of the local Rotax Max Challenge series had to ask for a clarification from the organisers of the annual Grand Final.
Evans completed four of the five rounds as a 12-year-old but the age limit for the Junior class at the Grand Final (where representatives from Challenges all over the world meet to compete for the Grand Final title) is 13.
Because he turned 13 in June the St Kentigern College schoolboy was OK, but another month and he could well have won his class here but not been able to compete at the Grand Final.
These days virtually every successful racing driver in Europe or the United States started his or her career start in karts. But few have been able to make the move as early as New Zealand drivers such as Scott Dixon and Brendon Hartley. The reason is MotorSport New Zealand's world-renowned Junior Licence, available to drivers as young as 12.
The conditions are stringent, and involve theoretical and practical tests plus observations by qualified MotorSport NZ personnel, but needless to say, like Dixon and Hartley before him Evans breezed through them and was awarded his licence last month.
Also like Dixon and Hartley, Evans comes from a racing family; his late grandfather Laurie raced and rallied cars most of his life and his father Owen started in karts before moving to rally cars and eventually the powerful Porsches with which his name is now synonymous.
Coincidentally, Evans' 16-year-old brother Simon is also moving from karts to cars this season, albeit at the rather more usual age of 16.
Earlier this year the boys' father was happy for Evans to continue to focus on karts for another year or two, but after discussing career options with key motorsport people here and overseas he decided the Junior Licence option was too good to ignore.
"Despite its success we're still the only country where - if he can prove he is ready - a 12- or 13-year-old like Mitchell can race a single-seater car like a Formula First at a national level," he explains.
"And when I talked to people who have been involved with Scott and Brendon they reckoned that the sooner he made the move the better."
Before he packs his karting suit away for the last time however the young Auckland driver has one more major meeting to focus on, the annual Rotax Max Grand Final at Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between November 26 and December 1 this year.
Evans won the right to represent New Zealand at the eighth annual Grand Final event by taking out his class (Formula Junior) at the 2007 Gen-i Rotax Max Challenge of New Zealand.
Needless to say, in doing so he beat a field full of 14 and 15-year-olds, and at 13 he will be the youngest driver competing at that event as well.
*CALENDAR
2007/08 New Zealand Formula First Championship
Rnd 1 Oct 20-21 Taupo Motorsport Park
Rnd 2 Nov 24-25 Manfeild Autocourse
Rnd 3 Dec 1-2 Pukekohe Park Raceway
Rnd 4 Jan 12-13 2008 Manfeild Autocourse
Rnd 5 Feb 3 Pukekohe Park Raceway
Rnd 6 Mar 2 Pukekohe Park Raceway
Rnd 7 Mar 22-23 Taupo Motorsport Park
Rnd 8 Mar 29-30 Manfeild Autocourse
