Kart prodigy Smith shifts to car racing

MANILA, Philippines — Karting’s  top rookie last year Sean “Rockrapidz” Smith will be welcoming a new challenge in his young career—car racing.

The 14-year-old racer is the youngest competitor in the coming Vios Cup.

“Sean loves to race and I was interested to meet the boy,” said Lincoln Lim, president of Toyota Quezon Avenue which is backing up Smith.

“I see a future in this boy, eager to learn.” Smith, who already had two podium finishes in the national karting series this year, believes that car racing is his ticket to his ultimate dream—Formula 1.

“Due to lack of funding, I did not have any plans in moving this year until Toyota QA offered this amazing opportunity” said Smith.

Smith said his biggest challenge with the transition to cars is “mastering the gear changing,” since he was already used to the single-geared mechanism of go-karts.

The Filipino-British karting prodigy said he looks up to 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton.