Zane Maloney ready to go in Formula Regional European Championships

Barbados’ Zane Maloney is gearing up to start his 2021 campaign in the Formula Regional European Championships in two weeks.

The 17-year-old, who is a former British Formula 4 champion, has joined the French team R-ace GP for the 2021 season and has been testing at three different tracks in the lead-up to the start of the season.

The three circuits where he tested are Imola, Italy (17-18 March), Barcelona (25-26 March), and Paul Ricard (30-31 March); and he is currently in France after testing close to the Team’s headquarters before head-ing off to Imola, Italy for the first Round of the single-seater Championship.

This opening round will be the first of three race weekends in which the Formula Regional European Championship will compete as an F1® support series and it is billed as the perfect step from F4 to F3™ in the FIA certified path towards F1®.

As usual, Maloney will be racing with the number 22, which he has done since he first started driving karts at the age of three years old.

Speaking to The Barbados Advocate, Maloney said that the tests went well and the team did a good job as they have been doing for the past four or five years as the top team.

He is one of four drivers with R-ace GP in a championship that will have over 30 drivers competing this season.

His dream is to one day be able to compete in the F1 Championship, which has been his goal since he started driving. He continues to work hard toward this, having first competed internationally in 2016 in the USA in karting before heading over to Europe in 2017.

“My ultimate dream is to be a Formula 1 driver. I never set how many championships I would win, but as the main thing is to get there and my only dream in life is to get to F1… It is literally all I think about each day.”

For the 2021 season in Formula Regional European Championship, he is looking to be consistent at the top, as his goal – as it has been for any championship he enters – is to win.

“It’s about consistency as everyone isn’t going to win. It is about consistency and being at the front all year around and throughout the season. So I have to keep my head down.”

As a supporting race for F1 and more drivers, Maloney said that this offers more exposure and when the opportunity came for him to race with a top team, he had to take it.

Being away from home has been tough for the teenager, who said that as he builds up for this championships, he has had over 40 COVID-19 tests so far. But coming home to visit is made even harder, though he takes the op-portunity whenever it is there to come home and relax and be with family and friends.

The quarantine time has to be factored in and sometimes he does not have enough time to come home.

“I have an apartment in France now as I will be here a lot of the time. Up here by myself and completely on my own is tough. There is no schoolwork, so it’s even more boring, but it gives me a chance for more training and to be in the best shape for the season.”

With the pandemic making things harder, Maloney said that he has had to set out plans with his nutritionist as he has had to get all the food in advance if he wants to eat properly and healthy.

Maloney – who is a member of the prestigious BRDC Rising Stars programme – is managed by ADD man-agement and joins the likes of fellow ADD driver and Formula 1 star, Lando Norris, who also won the British F4 Championship.

With this team behind him and advising him along with the support of his family, he has been gaining knowledge about the sport, which he said is very close-knit.

“Motorsports is a very closed sport. So unless you are working with them, then motorsport is a cruel world as everyone is about themselves and keeps to themselves.”

But he is happy to have ADD management behind him and guiding his journey with invaluable knowledge.