Motorsport: Only the best will do

Only 17, TRS driver Nick Cassidy's determination to race at Formula One level is red-hot. Photo / Supplied

Seventeen-year-old Nick Cassidy has set his sights on Formula One - but first must maintain the Toyota Racing Series lead he scored at Timaru's round two on January 22.

Last year's TRS Rookie of the Year title netted him European tests in a Renault Cup car, in Formula Abarth and for the Ferrari Academy, vital experience for the young racer. But the Aucklander already has 11 years of racing under his belt.

Given his first go-kart at 4, he began racing two years later and already had that competitive fire.

"Absolutely, we'd go to parent-teacher interviews and teachers would tell my parents I'm competitive. Racing gave me a way to harness that."

At 8 he added Speedway to his portfolio and at 13, won a SpeedSport scholarship and a season in Formula First: his introduction to cars and to tracks like Manfeild and Pukekohe. He still enjoys karting.

"The competition is good, but in terms of progressing to a motor sport career, you need to go to cars, and that scholarship was the logical step."

Cassidy says speedway improves car control. "On the dirt you don't have the grip or feel you do in a single-seater so it develops that aspect of my driving."

He admits it takes more than driving to succeed. For his TRS seat he had to do well in Formula Ford to generate funding and sponsorship. He spoke to Stephen Giles, owner of Giles Motorsport, which had won the previous two championships, "so it was the dream place to be - and BNT Automotive, Fuchs and CRC took me on board. That, combined with my form, got me the drive."

Cassidy says the Toyota Racing Series is vital to his career. "The cars are very similar to the junior formulas in Europe, at half the cost of racing there. We don't have the budget to move to Europe at this stage but TRS lets us race a similar car in New Zealand, against international opposition. We can prove ourselves against guys doing well in Europe, racers who are on development squads for brands like Ferrari. "The people helping them develop are keeping an eye on those who are beating them."

Cassidy left school last year after passing NCEA Level 2 and is concentrating on motor racing, on "building a better network of people around me, training and preparing".

That includes fitness, and Cassidy is trained by Aaron Timbers at the Millennium Institute of Sport, who says he is very focused for his age. "He's a one-off. He's very grounded, and has the determination to achieve his aims. He'll do whatever it takes to get where he wants to go and he pushes himself but he bounces back. He's pretty strong-minded."

He'll have to be. "I want to be the best race car driver in the world, so I have to keep working hard. If I keep doing things right the opportunities are endless. I just need to keep myself motivated and pushing towards that, as at the end of the day, anything's possible."