Jacob Douglas will head to the United States later this year for a debut in the US Formula 4 championship.
Douglas confirmed the news this week at Hampton Downs, where he put in 80 laps of testing in a Toyota Racing Series FT60 car.
The multiple New Zealand karting champion will link up with US race team Kiwi Motorsport later in July.
Under the guidance of team owners Garry Orton and Teena Larsen, Douglas will test both the USF4 and Formula 3 car at Laguna Seca, Button Willow and Mid-Ohio.
The 16-year-old will then make his race debut at Laguna Seca at the start of September.
Kiwi Motorsport has welcomed several Kiwis into their stables over the past few years, providing a link for budding New Zealand single-seater drivers to race in America.
Ronan Murphy, Bailey Paterson and Ryan Yardley contested rounds of the USF4 with the outfit last year.
Douglas hopes his testing done in the FT60 and FT50 TRS chassis’ will make for a more straightforward step into racing in America.
“I’ve definitely learned a lot from being in the TGRNZ environment with the engineering feedback from the team and the driving input from Chris van der Drift,” Douglas said.
“I know lots of young racers have had a successful introduction to the US racing scene with Garry and Teena and I’m looking forward to it.”
Douglas’ manager Tiffany Chittenden has high hopes for Douglas when he heads stateside.
She also suggested a possible TRS campaign for Douglas in the future.
“He’s gone really well in the testing and has shown both speed and the ability to learn quickly so we all thought the time was right for this kind of trip,” Chittenden said.
“He’s learned a lot with the TGRNZ team, and he’ll carry on that learning with Kiwi Motorsport.
“If it all goes well we see no reason why we could not work towards Jacob having a season in the Castrol Toyota Racing Series at some stage.”
Images: Bruce Jenkins
