Cranston to take on the world

Jacob Cranston is set for the trip of a lifetime, but he will have to squeeze in some study along the way.

The 16-year-old Palmerston North Boys’ High School student will jet off to Portugal to contest the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals from November 4.

While Cranston has a bright karting future, his school exams will be waiting for him on his return to New Zealand.

But you could forgive the teenager for keeping his studies on the backburner as he chases the world title.

Cranston, who is also a talented footballer in the Boys’ High 1st XI, qualified for the event after topping the New Zealand competition earlier this year.

It will be raced at Kartodromo Internacional do Algarve where 360 international drivers will convene.

While the event attempts to have the drivers on a level playing field, Cranston admitted some drivers’ budgets meant they had an advantage.

‘‘Your entry includes identical karts, engines, fuels and tyres to everyone else, but we most definitely are up against it when it comes to our budget compared to what some of the European guys will be spending.

‘‘There’s no official testing, but of course, some of the top guys who will have been gunning for this all year will have been racing and doing laps at the track for a long time which is something that’s not available for us Kiwis. Some of these guys are on a legitimate career path to be the next F1 superstar, so their budgets are out of our league.’’

Cranston’s family and supporters have been fundraising just to get enough to get him over to Portugal to compete.

He started karting as a 6-yearold and said most of his success was thanks to the support of his father Andrew Cranston.

‘‘Dad was also into motorracing... But it was not until our neighbour’s sons were racing and they gave me a go in their go-kart [that I became interested]. About a year later dad sold his race car and bought me a kart.’’

The duo have worked together as a father-son team for the past nine years.

Cranston hopes to one day be able to offer the same support to other karters that he received from various others throughout the years.

‘‘I would like to open my own team and do driver training,’’ he said. ‘‘I would like to be a mechanic as well for the drivers.’’

In terms of driving, he hoped to get a shot at driving a Toyota 86 or in the New Zealand V8s.

But before he worries about his future, or even the world finals, he has the North Island Sprint Title to worry about. The defending champion puts his title on the line this weekend in Hamilton.