KUALA LUMPUR: Young race driver Hayden Haikal is looking to work his way up the ranks and race GT3 cars in Europe one day.
The 20-year-old has arguably been the most outstanding driver in Malaysia in recent seasons, winning numerous races in various touring car series including the Malaysia Speed Festival (MSF), Malaysia Championship Series (MCS) as well as Toyota Gazoo Racing.
This year, he got his first taste of GT cars in the Thai-based The Super Series (TSS) where he races alongside Aussie Peter Hackett in a Mercedes AMG GT4 for Racing Aurora.
Hayden said racing in TSS has been a new experience for him and he is keen for more.
"This year I got the chance to race in a GT series (TSS) for the first time with Racing Aurora," said Hayden recently.
"It is my first time racing a GT4 car and we have done well so far, winning a number of races and consistently finishing on the podium. The progression has been good.
"Racing GT cars is a lot different from racing touring cars, you have to be very smooth and be a lot more patient. With touring cars, you can be much more aggressive but you can't do that in GT4.
"We still have one more round to go in TSS next month and are only eight points off the leaders, so we can still fight for the championship."
Hayden is hoping to move up to the GT3 class in TSS next season with a long term goal of racing in Europe.
"The end goal is to race GT3 cars in Europe one day, possibly in the GT World Challenge Europe series and the World Endurance Championships, which is the pinnacle for GT racing," said Hayden.
"I think I will start in Asia first by moving up to the GT3 class in TSS.
"It is a bit more tricky to find sponsors for GT racing because it costs a lot to race. For GT3 in TSS it would cost about RM1.2 million to race next season.
"So I need to find a sponsor willing to back me. Both the driver and the team need to find sponsors, it is not cheap to run the cars."
Hayden will race for HI-REV Dream Chaser in the Sepang 1000 kilometres endurance race next week.
He will use the same Suzuki Swift that he used to win the team's third MCS title in a row this year.