Young Auckland driver Callum Hedge has claimed yet another 2022 victory, this time on home soil in taking honours in the Tony Quinn Foundation shoot-out.
Coming up against two other very reputable youngsters in Liam Sceats and Billy Frazer, Hedge emerged victorious in a tightly fought, winner-take-all battle.
Winning the shootout sees the current Team Porsche New Zealand driver claim a massive $70,000 check towards his Toyota Racing Series debut next year. The reward comes as a part of the increased financial support from the foundation which was announced earlier this year.
“Absolutely stoked to be the winner of the 2022 TQF TRS Shootout,” Hedge said in a Facebook post this evening.
“It was such a hard day of competition. Both Liam and Billy really did a great job and it was a challenge to compete against them.
“I was really happy with my performance yesterday and knew that I put my best foot forward.
“The $70,000 prize is incredible and it is a huge boost to our 2023 TRS Campaign.
“A special thanks to all the trustees Steve, Daniel, Josie, Greg and of course Tony Quinn for an amazing day and the chance to represent the Tony Quinn Foundation in the 2023 Toyota Racing Series.”
The competition was run as an invite-only initiative for TRS rookies who have been with the Hampton Downs NZ Racing Academy in the 12-months prior to the shoot-out and are under the age of 22.
It’s another addition to what is already proving to become an illustrious career for the 18-year-old, whose accolades already include the 2017/18 New Zealand Formula Championship. He won that title at just 14 years old, making him the world’s youngest ever national champion in the category.
He backed that up with victory in the 2018/19 Toyota 86 Championship before joining the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge in Australia for the 2021 season. That series was cancelled after just five races due to the pandemic, but it was enough for Hedge to still get a taste of victory in taking one of those.
Stepping up to the main game in the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia this year, Hedge has quickly grasped a feel for the series and grown as the season progressed.
This was first shown in Townsville where the Kiwi claimed his first victory in the series following a third in the first race and second in the second.
This was backed up by multiple other podiums and, most recently, round victory in the season-concluding Gold Coast event.
There’s no doubt that Hedge is a deserving winner of the TQF Shootout. That’s not to say that Sceats and Frazer aren’t, however.
Frazer is already becoming somewhat of an established racer in the US having completed two seasons in the USF2000 on the Road to Indy pathway.
In just his second season Frazer scored seven podiums in the series, finishing fifth overall for the year and showcasing his talent in winning the coveted “overtake of the year” award.
Like Hedge, he is also a New Zealand Formula Championship, claiming the 2020 title.
Sceats is also one working his way up from Formula Ford, currently leading the North Island competition after two rounds.. As the youngest of the three at just 17, however, Sceats has yet to taste much success outside the series.
There’s no doubt that success will come.
The North Island Formula Ford season opener at Pukekohe showcased his natural ability behind the wheel, the youngster locked in battle with 2022 national champion Alex Crosbie.
Whilst it was Crosbie who took the round there, Sceats took two break-through wins in a display of tight, confident driving which hints at the future ahead.
It wasn’t any easy pick for the panel of five to choose the winner, Greg Murphy, Steve Horne, Tony Quinn, Daniel Gaunt and Josie Spillane left with a difficult decision in choosing the winner.
“The quality we have is deep,” Murphy said in an article published by Hampton Downs.
“All three guys were very professional and drove very well, making the job to pick a winner very difficult. For the qualifying and then the outright speed, there was only tenths [of-a-second] between them. It was very, very tight.
“For Liam, a young man making the step up to this car proved that he’s definitely got plenty of skill and ability and deserves to be taken very seriously. And Billy showcased his experience well.
“Callum just showed a little more consistency of his speed and just showed a very slight advantage in speed and all the facets of the shoot-out. But we’re talking about very small margins. And at this moment it was Callum that outshone the other two,” said Murphy.
With the announcement today of Hampton Downs as the host venue for the 2023 New Zealand Grand Prix, we can now only look forward to the tight battles which were seen in the shootout to replicating themselves on-track, including with the addition of some international talent.
Image: Callum Hedge (Facebook)
