Motorsport: Odd man out on a learning curve

Ryan Tveter took up fulltime racing only last year. Photo / Bruce Jenkins

Each year the annual Toyota Racing Series throws up a driver who hasn't followed the normal path to wings-and-slicks racing.

Last year it was Brit Jann Mardenborough who won the Nissan Sony PlayStation Gran Turismo gaming competition (beating 116,000 others), which gave him the opportunity to attend the GT Academy.

Being the best driver on a real track gained him a season of British GT racing in 2012 and last year he raced just about everything and nabbed a third place at the Le Mans 24 Hour in the LMP2 class.

There's been much debate about video games and their relationship with the actual activity of racing on track.

Sure, a Formula One simulator is about as close to the real thing as you can get, but they cost more than an actual F1 car and are definitely not a video game.

This year's TRS championship has thrown up another anathema to the generally regarded natural progress of karting, Formula Ford and then junior formula, like the TRS, before stepping up to drives like GP3 and GP2.

American Ryan Tveter is this year's odd man out. He's only been in a kart on his birthday and took up fulltime racing last year.

What does appear to be increasingly apparent is that racing digitally is a good foundation for doing it for real.

The 19-year-old has been a passionate follower of motorsport since he can remember and has spent many hours engaging with simulated racing. Quite possibly this is the new trend in driver development, especially now that motorsport is dependent on computer data. "I've only raced a kart on my 11th and 13th birthdays," said Tveter.

"I raced three times in 2011 and did a partial season in Star Mazda the next year.

"My parents said my education was a priority and I think that's helped a lot.

"I've always been passionate about the sport and studied it a lot, especially Formula One.

"To me it's about what you can learn and how quickly you can learn it and apply it in the car.

"It's all about the data from the car now and how you learn and interpret it. It all came together pretty quickly for me and I was able to progress quickly. The data is always there and you can't sugarcoat it. You have to be honest, keep learning and work hard."

The Oyster Bay, NY resident has just signed a deal with Josef Kaufman Racing to campaign the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup this year after impressing the team in his first full season of any form of motorsport in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup.

Being able to spend five weeks contesting 15 races in New Zealand is like an intense training camp for the young man.

"It's the perfect place to get a really good workout before I go to Europe for this year's season," said Tveter. His form after three rounds and nine races so far indicates the American has come to grips with the TRS car and sits just inside the top 10 and has already notched his first podium finish - in any form of motorsport with a third place at Highlands Motorsport Park.

"That was an amazing result but I've made a few mistakes that have cost me valuable points.

"There have been a few races that haven't really gone my way but I'm relatively happy I'm in the top 10."

Round four of the TRS is this weekend at Hampton Downs with one race today and two tomorrow.