New Zealand motor racing's latest 'young gun,' Mitchell Evans, enjoyed a competitive start to his national-level single-seater career at the opening round of the 2007/08 New Zealand Formula First championship at Taupo's Taupo Motorsport Park over the weekend.
The just-turned 13-year-old from Auckland set the eighth fastest lap time in qualifying on Saturday morning then finished fifth in the first race, seventh in the second and eighth in the third. "I'm rapt," the young kart-turned-car driver said as he reflected on the weekend's events after the third and final race. "Getting up to fifth in the first race was a great start to the weekend and in the other two races I improved on my starting position which is what you always want to do."
Team boss Dennis Martin, who is running Evans in one of his Sabre cars this season, was also 'very happy' with his young driver. "Absolutely," he said as he packed up the team truck. "He didn't put a foot wrong, and to qualify eighth then finish fifth in his first national level race, that's an achievement any driver - regardless of age - would be proud of."
This season Martin is running four drivers in the national Formula First championship and each, he says, is different. He characterises Evans as having 'an old head on young shoulders' and says he is looking forward to watching his progress this season.
By moving from karts - where he has consistently topped each age group class since he started at six - at just 13 years of age Evans, the youngest of two sons of Porsche racer and New Zealand Land Speed Record holder Owen Evans, is following in the footsteps of Scott Dixon and Brendon Hartley.
Both took advantage of MotorSport New Zealand's unique Junior Licence system which - once they have passed a stringent set of practical and written tests - allows drivers as young as 12 to compete at a national level.
Initially his father was happy for Mitchell to continue to focus on karts for another year or two, but having discussed career options with a number of key motorsport people here and overseas he decided that the Junior Licence option was too good a one to ignore.
"We're still the only country, " he says, "where if he can prove he is ready a 12 or 13-year-old can race a car and when I talked to people who have been involved with Scott and Brendon they reckoned that the sooner we made the move the better."
Before he packs his karting suit away for the last time however Evans 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.
He won the right to represent New Zealand at the eighth annual Grand Final event by winning his class (Formula Junior) at the 2007 Gen-i Rotax Max Challenge of New Zealand. In doing so he beat several 14 and 15-year-olds and at 13 will be the youngest driver competing at that event as well!
RESULTS
Rnd 1 2007/07 New Zealand Formula First Championship Taupo Motorsport Park Taupo Sat-Sun Oct 20-21
Race 1
1. Cliff Field 6 laps
2. Matt Gibson +0.134
3. Matthew Stubbs +6.008
4. Simon Hardy +6.190
5. Mitchell Evans +6.735
6. Bryan McConkey +7.955
7. Richie Stanaway +8.165
8. Bradley McDonald +8.318
9. Ian Foster +9.987
10. Ryan Hellier +18.821
Race 2
1. Field 6 laps
2. Stanaway +0.722
3. Michael Shepherd +0.974
4. Stubbs +4.517
5. Foster +10.204
6. Gibson +12.979
7. Evans +13.310
8. Hardy +16.455
9. Paul Butler +18.146
10. Michael Neville +18.362
Race 3
1. Stubbs 6 laps
2. Gibson +1.192
3. Field +2.984
4. Stanaway +3.829
5. McConkey +5.308
6. McDonald +5.911
7. Foster +6.316
8. Evans +6.989
9. Neville +8.530
10. Shepherd +15.813
CALENDAR
2007/07 New Zealand Formula First Championship
Rnd 1 Oct 20-21 2007 Taupo Motorsport Park Taupo
Rnd 2 Nov 24-25 2007 Manfeild Autocourse Feilding
Rnd 3 Dec 1-2 2007 Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe
Rnd 4 Jan 12-13 2008 Manfeild Autocourse Feilding
Rnd 5 Feb 3 2008 Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe
Rnd 6 Mar 2 2008 Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe
Rnd 7 Mar 22-23 Taupo Motorsport Park Taupo
Rnd 8 Mar 29-30 Manfeild Autocourse Feilding
