Australian Formula 4 Championship front-runner Liam Lawson has been awarded the CareVets Racing Team scholarship to race in his native New Zealand Toyota 86 Championship.

Lawson this year became the youngest ever Formula Ford champion in the world when he claimed New Zealand’s Formula 1600 title with 14 race wins out of a possible 15.

The 15-year-old has since moved into the CAMS Jayco Australian Formula 4 Championship, in which he currently sits third on the points table having won Round 1 at Sandown.

Lawson is the third driver to have been awarded the CareVets Racing Team scholarship, an initiative of company owner and motorsport enthusiast Dr Keith Houston.

“It’s a real honour to be selected; the scholarship has been a fast track for the drivers chosen in past seasons and I’m looking forward to racing in a two-car, professionally run team like this,” said Lawson.

The Pukekohe student has already driven the car as part of the scholarship test day at Hampton Downs, during which drivers also had to undertake fitness tests and other off-track challenges.

“It’s very different from single-seaters, because the power steering takes some getting used to and it’s not as easy to feel what the front of the car is doing,” he explained.

“But the cars are so nicely balanced that it’s relatively easy to get dialled in and go fast.”

Lawson will join 2016/17 scholarship winner Jack Milligan as team-mate when Round 1 is held with the ITM Auckland Super Sprint at Pukekohe on November 3-5.