An 18-year-old Christchurch man is preparing to race in one of Asia's most high profile motorsport races.
James Munro Photo: SUPPLIED
James Munro and his team-mates - from Estonia, Malaysia and China - race the Sepang 12 hour race on Saturday.
Munro has had a successful career since taking up kart racing when he was 11. He has been awarded the Steel Memorial Trophy for under 21 drivers by Motorsport New Zealand twice, won the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship in 2013 and the Formula Masters China Series last year.
The latter gave him the opportunity to take part in the 12-hour race.
"It is a great opportunity for me, it is a well known race and i think we have a good team, so if we go well I'm sure it will lead to more opportunities in the future."
Each member of the team will drive three hours of the race in one-hour stints.
"It is a challenging track. It will be physically demanding - there are some high speed corners and it will be really hot."
"We are expecting it to be 40 degrees outside so it will be even hotter in the car."
James Munro (centre) won the Formula Masters China Series in 2014. Photo: SUPPLIED
Munro will be driving a purpose-built Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo.
"It's a pretty serious race car - we will be reaching speeds of about 280 kilometres an hour.
"I've been close to that speed but I've never reached it.
"This car has the most power of anything I've driven before, that's for sure."
He has always wanted to be a race-car driver, so was excited to take part in the race.
"It's been difficult doing racing and school work at the same time, but now I am finished school I can focus all of my attention on racing which is what I enjoy doing."
"I've been doing a lot of training for the 12 hour, I've done a lot of altitude training to prepare myself for the heat and to build up my endurance," Munro said.
Although solely focused on the 12-hour race, Munro said his dream was to one day race in the IndyCar Championship in the United States.
