Dubai: The first thing Christopher Zoechling did after he turned a major in February this year was obtain a driving licence from the Dubai Police.
Seven months down the line and Zoechling maintains a clean driving record. "Maybe I do have a couple of speeding tickets. But I doubt this too as I normally drive my mother's car when in Dubai," Zoechling told Gulf News.
Under normal circumstances, a new teenage driver would be an ideal candidate for a few fines. But Zoechling is not your normal driver he's been driving since he was a kid.
The amiable Austrian, who turned 18 earlier this year, has just returned from his racing base in China after participating in three races of the Asian Formula Renault Challenge for the FRD team.
But things were not the most suited for the Dubai lad as "unfair practices" among his teammates forced him to cut short his attempt on the Asian circuit.
"The exposure was definitely something that has helped me, but I just could not put up with the unfair practices my own team was resorting to having me out of the running," Zoechling stated.
However, that experience helped temper the teenager as he came across the highly-popular Champ Car racing. He did the next best thing Zoechling went straight ahead for a test drive to Toronto, Canada, about two weeks back.
Champ Car is a shortened form of Championship Car, and it has been the name for a class of cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades.
It is also the common name for the Champ Car World Series, an Open Wheel World Championship mainly based in North America that was formerly known as CART, or Championship Auto Racing Teams.
"This series is highly popular and catching up very fast," Zoechling said.
During testing, he impressed a lot of people as he set two new lap records.
One of the team principals was so impressed with Zoechling that he immediately offered him a $400,000 backing a place in his team for the new season in the Champ Car Atlantic a minor version of the Champ Car series.
"I still need to put another $600,000 to confirm my seat in the Champ Car Atlantic series. I have narrowed down on a few sponsors in Europe who have their presence here in the Gulf," Zoechling said.
Sponsorship coming, Zoechling will proceed to North America in the middle of October for another testing session.
