European and World Championship kart racer Sasakorn ‘Cutter’ Chaimongkol will graduate into single-seater racing this year with Hillspeed in the BRDC Formula 4 Championship, it has been confirmed today (18 March).
The Thai youngster is currently balancing his motor racing activities with his GCSE exam commitments at Giggleswick School in the Yorkshire Dales, and the 16-year-old will initially undertake a structured testing programme at the wheel of one of Hillspeed’s Tatuus-Cosworth cars. Where his schooling schedule then permits, the teenager will make his competitive debut in the championship with the race-winning Hathersage based squad.
Chaimongkol has enjoyed a strong karting career so far, winning the Formula 125 Junior Open Asian Karting Open Championship in 2011 and finishing as runner-up in the ROK Cup International Final in the Mini category the same year. He has subsequently raced in Europe in the WSK Euro Series and has also competed in the CIK-FIA European and World KF Championships, achieving strong results.
Chaimongkol said: “I am so happy to be joining Hillspeed. I have been karting since I was four years old and have been very lucky to be supported by Maxima Oils throughout. They have now given me the opportunity to graduate to single-seater cars.
“In my first test in BRDC F4, I was immediately at home – Richard and his team have given me great support and encouragement and I can’t wait to go racing with them and repay their commitment with some good results. This will be a learning year but I know I can be competitive – I won’t disappoint them.”
Richard Ollerenshaw, Team Principal of Hillspeed, commented: “Cutter is a very talented young driver who impressed us hugely in his first test at Snetterton – after just one day in the car he was showing race pace, we’re thrilled to be working with him this year. Quite rightly, his education is currently taking priority over his racing so we’re focusing on driver development until he is able to make his race debut in BRDC F4.
“Hillspeed’s development work with rookie drivers is something I am, personally, very proud of and we have a fantastic record working with the likes of Franky Cheng, Alice Powell and Sean Walkinshaw in Formula Renault, Tom Ingram and Seb Morris in Ginetta and Ameya Vaidyanathan and Al Faisal Al Zubair in F4.”
The 2016 BRDC Formula 4 Championship gets underway at Snetterton next weekend on March 27/28, and will take in 24 races at eight rounds, visiting some of the most renowned tracks in Europe including Brands Hatch, Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps.
For more information about the BRDC F4 Championship, visit www.formula4.com.
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