My Story

It starts on my Japanese grandfather’s couch in Tokyo. Six-year-old me sitting on the couch watching TV. My grandfather switches channels and the 2011 Japanese Grand Prix shows. I remember Jenson Button’s silver McLaren winning the race, with Vettel and Alonso right behind. From then, I knew that is what I wanted to do.

I began karting shortly after and moved to Singapore, where I began racing at KartRight Speedway, at the time the hub of the Singaporean karting scene. I went on to win races in my first year racing in the Mini category, and the following year in 2016, I was Asia Champion.

From then I made a huge commitment of moving to Europe to pursue karting at the highest levels, racing in the WSK, FIA European and World Championships, and many other top-level karting series in Europe. It was definitely an adjustment, but again the speed was undoubtedly there. I was gaining experience, putting in strong performances and getting results that showed my capability. However, I was sidelined due to knee and shoulder injuries that I sustained. It was clear from the beginning of the diagnosis that this recovery was going to take time, so I decided to move back to Singapore and leave racing behind for a time.

I was absolutely devastated and struggled adjusting to life outside the track. Going back to Singapore and explaining to friends why I was back so early when I planned to never come back was difficult. On top of that, I was trying to rehab and recover from my injuries, which took a very long time. I was hobbling and couldn’t reach my arm above my head for about two years, and then I could finally start recovering and gaining my strength back. I was like a toothpick at that point.

Slowly, I forgot more and more about racing and adjusted to life without it. I had friends at school, hobbies, and it was nice being around my family more often. But racing never went away, it was always slowly and quietly burning away in my heart. And one day, I was again on the couch like I was when I was six, and watched Isack Hadjar, who was my karting teammate, win races in FIA F3. At that point my stomach almost dropped and I felt like I had wasted my talent. It boiled away inside me for a few months and at some point, I wanted to go back to it and asked my dad if I could go do a test in a Formula Regional car at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.

This was at the same time as I was applying for university, and I had gotten great options, my top choice being the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. It looked like an amazing school and it was my sure-fire choice for university, but the racing put a spanner in the works.

I did the test at Sepang and it went very well. This was my first time ever in a race car of any sort, and I was about 0.5s off the pace. I knew and proved to myself that I still had what it took.

A few days after the test I had to pick between Canada or racing, and although it was very difficult and I decided at the last moment, I picked racing. So, I was headed to the UK, to Nottingham which was my second-choice university, and I began again, completely unknown and on my own. I trained and worked like my life depended on it. I was alone, didn’t see my friends often and was completely focused on catching up and being ready for the next opportunity.

Due to my break from racing being so long, my license was also invalid, so I had to recoup all my points again. So I couldn’t just go race in a Formula car series. I instead raced Mazda MX-5s for the first half of 2024, getting to the International-C license which would let me compete in virtually any series. I raced against mainly gentleman drivers who had 25 years of experience in these cars, and I had a lot of fun. It was a good way to reintroduce myself back into racing and I got my license points.

Then, I dove straight into the deep end, doing testing and racing in the GB3 Championship with Fortec Motorsports. I went straight into a very high level, but straight away the team at Fortec saw what I had in me. They saw my potential. They saw I had what you need to go all the way, and they backed me strongly and were invested in my progression.

For my 2025 plans, I knew I was doing GB4. Yes, I had raced in GB3 but I knew that I would not have the necessary experience to perform and produce the results I knew I could in GB3, as drivers in that championship are already quite experienced. GB4 is more of an entry series, which was perfect for me. Also, in terms of my university, I decided to defer my 2nd year to fully focus and give my all to racing. Now, I was really fully back into motorsports; there was no fallback.

I decided to race for Elite Motorsport in the 2025 GB4 Championship and it was an amazing season. I finished 4th in the championship with 1 win, 2 poles, 5 podiums and the GB4 lap record at Silverstone. Although it wasn’t a perfect season, I am going to take away everything I can from the 2025 season and channel it into next year, where I will be racing in GB3. All the lessons from this year will only make me stronger for next year.

My return to motorsport went exceptionally well, but I want to do even better and go for that top prize next year. My story is not finished yet, there is more to be written and I will give it absolutely everything to maximise the opportunities I am going to get. I want to finish this story one day with a group of people who believed in me from an early stage in my career. If you want to be one of those individuals, please feel free to contact me and let’s finish this comeback story together.