Kāpiti racing driver Yoshi Comeskey. Photo: Samantha Tane
Yoshi Comeskey is using Liam Lawson's old car and he's hoping to go just as fast as the New Zealand Formula One driver.
Like Lawson, 18-year-old Comeskey, who has just finished up at Paraparaumu College in Kāpiti, was attracted to motorsport at a young age.
"I've always liked cars ever since I could remember and always just wanted to get into racing and go karts," Comeskey said.
Yoshi Comeskey at Hampton Downs. Photo: Matt Comeskey
However, he didn't start racing until a few years ago.
"I finally made the jump to go karts pretty late, when I was about 15. A lot of kids start between the ages of seven and nine."
Comeskey did dabble in go karts at various indoor tracks around Wellington and Manawatū and has had a racing simulator setup at home since he was about 8 years old.
Eventually he ended up at a give-it-a-go day at the Wellington Kartsport Club, an event where people can rent a kart for the day and experience racing.
He showed some promise so his dad Matt invested in a cart and a trailer.
Yoshi was a natural and won various races including the overall Kartsport Wellington Senior Briggs championship title in 2023.
This year though, he made the switch to Formula First and ended up in Lawson's old car.
"He started out in Sabre Motorsport as well. I think he was in the same chassis that I'm driving now. The very same car."
Sabre Motorsport's Yoshi Comeskey in action in Formula First. Photo: Samantha Tane
Comeskey would love to one day race in Formula One and said RB driver Lawson was his inspiration.
"Definitely Liam Lawson. He's gone all the way with Formula One and he's been someone I've followed and looked up to for a while."
Matt Comeskey said they were given some off hand advice that proved invaluable when deciding whether or not to make the jump to Formula First.
"We were at the at the kart club one day and a guy came up to us and asked us if we had heard about Dennis Martin who runs Sabre Motorsport. He said look you should give Dennis a call because he runs a programme where you can lease the car and it's a great way to to get into Formula First without having to know how to maintain in the car and be a mechanic.
"So I gave Dennis a call and went for a test. He was really impressed with Yoshi's test and offered him a a seat for the season."
Yoshi Comeskey racing at Hampton Downs. Photo: Matt Comeskey
Yoshi Comeskey said it didn't take too long to get comfortable in the open wheel Formula First cars.
"It wasn't too bad. There's a big difference between the single speed go karts and the four speed manual race cars, but I enjoyed the the new challenge and it didn't take that long to get adjusted."
His results have been promising.
"In the Winter Series we picked up five podiums. In the summer series, we've just been trying to work out the car, but we've seen some promising results and we've been the leading Sabre car.
"We're sitting eighth out of 16 after two rounds. It's incredibly, tight. It's the difference between eighth place and first place in qualifying can be less than a second."
One of the biggest barriers to getting into motorsport is is the financial cost. That has been the case for Comeskey and he's been lucky enough to have father Matt as a fund raising advocate.
"We were sending out a proposal to a few businesses and and getting, positive responses, but it just wasn't a good time to be giving money away. So, almost in a last ditch effort, I posted to the Kāpiti Coast Community page on Facebook," Matt said.
They community stepped up.
"I got a I got a couple of responses. One was from Oli Corby at VF - The Kāpiti Digital Agency and he wanted to have a coffee and he sat down and he said, he said, look I've been online. I've watched all of Yoshi's YouTube racing videos. He's a great driver."
"Oli said, we can start with financial support. We'll paint the car for you and we'll build your website as well because Yoshi needs to get his his name out there."
Other local sponsors also came on board such as Cover Yours Insurance, high performance coach Lorraine Hamilton and Kāpiti Signs.
Yoshi Comeskey racing in Formula First for Sabre Motorsport. Photo: Samantha Tane
With his immediate racing future secure, Comeskey has his eyes on progressing through the ranks of New Zealand motorsport.
"My short term goals would be next year to have a drive in the Formula Ford Championship or the Toyota 86 Championship. In the future I'd like to race nationally and internationally in New Zealand and Japan and probably Australia as well."
Matt said his son is now getting plenty of support.
"Sabre Motorsport with Dennis Martin, is a fantastic team. You just you basically just arrive and you drive. They bring the cars, they bring the mechanics, they sort everything out. So Yoshi can turn up and can just fully focus on driving.
"Dennis, has been around for many years. He's won a couple of championships himself. He's mentored Liam Lawson, Shane Van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway. All those guys. So when he's talking to Yoshi, I just think it's so amazing that he can be imparting his knowledge. He really believes in Yoshi as well."
Comeskey's next Formula First round is at Manfield in Fielding next weekend and he's hoping to climb further up the standings and closer to his goals.
