Two aspiring young race car drivers, one from Australia and one from New Zealand, have been invited by Rodin Cars to attend a test in the UK for Rodin Motorsport’s British Formula 4 programme.
Current New Zealand Formula Ford champion Marco Manson, 15, and Queensland-based Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi, 13, will join Rodin Motorsport for a testing programme at Pembrey in August.
The pair finished top two in the recently completed New Zealand Formula Ford championship and were invited to Rodin Cars’ manufacturing and testing facility at Mt Lyford, North Canterbury, for a two-day evaluation programme.
Both Manson and Eskandari-Marandi impressed enough that Rodin Cars elected to send them to the UK to be immersed in the Rodin Motorsport framework and experience its world-class facilities.
“Marco and Sebastian consistently performed at a high level throughout the programme and stood out as two drivers capable of benefiting from the exposure to international competition. Their selection for the UK test reflects not only their speed but also their attitude, work ethic and long-term development potential,” said Rodin Cars and Rodin Motorsport Managing Director, Emma Duncan.
“The objective of taking both drivers to the UK is to expose them to a genuine international motorsport environment and benchmark them against the standard required to compete in the British Formula 4 championship.”
Under the ‘Formula Ford to Formula 1’ pathway initiated by Rodin Cars in association with Motorsport New Zealand, the winner of the national Formula Ford championship receives a test at Rodin Cars, with a second opportunity available as a ‘wild card’. This year, Manson attended as champion and
Eskandari-Marandi received an invitation.
“I’m quite excited for what’s to come in Pembrey and excited to drive the F4 car with the actual Rodin Motorsport team,” said Manson, who heads to the Pembrey test with Formula 4 race experience, currently leading the Australian AU4 Formula 4 championship after two rounds.
The evaluation at Rodin Cars came between his Australian racing commitments, and Manson says his race car in Australia and Rodin’s F4 car he experienced on the test track were much the same, but getting the final fraction of a lap time is more demanding.
“It’s like driving anything, same same but different. The cars are similar, but you can notice the little differences in every car,” said Manson.
“Making sure the last ten per cent is perfect is what’s most important, being such a fast and flowing track. There’s only a small difference everyone can be and finding a tenth [of-a-second] is really hard.”
Prior to racing AU4, Manson was largely unbeaten in Formula Ford and is widely regarded as the current stand-out young driver in New Zealand.
Eskandari-Marandi, meanwhile, would not be racing if it weren’t for New Zealand having a lower entry age for a competition licence, 12 compared to 14 years in Australia. The opportunity to compete in New Zealand was not lost on the Queensland teenager and his family. He’s achieved a lot in less than twelve months of racing, all in New Zealand.
“We found out we could do the New Zealand Formula Ford championship and then this whole Rodin opportunity came about, so it’s been a pretty quick step up, but I feel like I’ve been adapting to it quite well,” said Eskandari-Marandi.
He was quickly up to pace from his car racing debut in New Zealand, and the post-season test at Rodin Cars’ facility recently was a highlight of his season, and he felt he adapted well to the new challenge of a wings-and-slicks car.
“The Formula 4 with the wings-and-slicks is a lot better through the faster corners, and being an open diff like the Formula Ford, you have to try and minimise the wheelspin off the slower corners, so that’s something I was quite familiar with. But then the wings-and-slicks were quite hard to get used to, but I eventually, towards the last day, got used to it,” said Eskandari-Marandi.
During their time at Rodin Cars, the young drivers were under the guidance of Rodin’s longtime coach and driving instructor, Mark Williamson.
“I’m really pleased to see that Marco and Sebastian have been selected to attend a British F4 test with Rodin Motorsport. It was very difficult to split the performance of both these drivers. It’s a fitting result for them both, and I’m sure it will be an eye-opener they will grasp with both hands,” said Williamson.
The test at Pembrey in Wales is to benchmark both drivers against the standard expected of current British F4 competitors. The evaluation will also consider driver feedback, consistency, adaptability, professionalism and overall readiness for international competition.
To ensure meaningful comparisons, Rodin Motorsport intends to run a benchmark driver as part of the programme. This will provide engineers with a direct reference point when assessing performance.
“I’m just looking forward to the experience, it should be fun and not put too much pressure on myself. I just want to treat it like any other test day and do the best I can,” said Eskandari-Marandi
“I’m quite excited for what’s to come in Prembrey and excited to drive the F4 car with the actual Rodin Motorsport team,” said Manson, when asked about his next step and the chance to race in the UK.
“It would definitely be beneficial if that ended up happening, really cool to experience and race in the British F4 championship.
“In the meantime, I’ll be staying fit and doing as much driving as I can.”
The UK test is not solely about lap time. Away from the race track, both drivers will spend time at Rodin Motorsport’s purpose-built Driver Performance Centre, designed to support drivers competing at the highest levels of international motorsport. This will provide them with valuable insight into the level of preparation required for success in Europe.
“The ultimate goal is to determine whether either driver is capable of progressing into a British F4 programme and to identify the next steps in their development pathway,” says Duncan
While Manson will be tested with a 2027 British F4 seat in mind, Eskandari-Marandi will still be too young for consideration, so his test is being viewed primarily as a development and benchmarking opportunity, rather than an immediate pathway to a race seat.
Rodin Motorsport has a unique international pathway that stretches from grassroots motorsport through to FIA Formula 3 and FIA Formula 2. The team is active in eight different championship series.
The test at Pembrey is scheduled for the week beginning August 10th.
One of the evaluation days at Rodin Cars North Canterbury facility was captured on video and can be viewed at https://youtu.be/MGSBlkEY1eA?si=V8BlFjRslMdgWJER
Header Image: Supplied
