Loclan and Oskar Hennock are expanding their kart racing programs internationally as they join the Champions of the Future Academy Program six round series in addition to their Australian racing.
The duo will race under the Wash It Australia banner.
The Hennocks will race in different categories – 15-year-old Loclan in Senior and 12-year-old Oskar in the Mini GR3. This means that Australia will have drivers participating in each of the three classes.
Just 36 drivers are locked into each category for the six events, which include two in Italy, one in Spain and three in the Middle East. Both Hennocks – based in Queensland – compete around Australia in the SP Tools Australian Kart Championship and other major events.
“It will bring together some of the best drivers in the world in equal equipment with a lot of racing over the weekend,” Loclan told Speedcafe.com. “With the entry numbers limited and locked in for the series, I think it will be great travelling all over the world with the same drivers, getting to know them and see where everything plays out.”
Oskar concurred.
“We’re going to places that I’ve always wanted to go to, so we’ll get to be tourists as well as going racing in some hard competition. I think it will be a lot of fun, then we’ll come back to Australia, get over the jetlag and do some Australian racing.”
Expectations for their first international tilt are reasonable.
“From my perspective, the power and grip level are going to be different to what I’m used to,” added Loclan. “I think I’ll go alright, if I can be mid-pack I’d be happy to start off with.”
Managing their program as mechanic will be the inaugural Australian Formula A CIK Champion, Richie McLeod. McLeod has a storied career off track, running international karting and single seat race teams around the world.
They’ll also draw knowledge from Formula Medicine to manage nutrition, mind and body aspects. It enters its 34th year in Formula 1 this year having looked after the likes of Alonso, Ricciardo, Vettel and LeClerc – along with sportspeople in other fields such as Casey Stoner and new Australian Open Champion, Jannik Sinner.
Both youngsters have ambitions to go into the GT-style of racing, however in different ways.
“I am looking at Le Mans and doing something like those endurance races,” said Oskar. “The longer, harder races are my style and we’ll use this as experience to do that.”
Whereas Loclan – who was selected for the Ferrari Driver Academy Asia-Pacific Selection Program last year – is looking more towards being aligned with a manufacturer in GT land.
“If I could go down the GT pathway, that would be pretty cool,” he said. “Something like the Porsche program for example where you are in the system and go all over the world.”
Wash It – a national mobile truck washing service – was founded by Ben Hennock and has been making a splash in Australian motorsport over recent years. Most prominently, Wash It has been a sponsor of Liam Talbot and held naming rights on his Audi on its way to third outright at the Bathurst 12 Hour.
The Wash It brand in Supercars has expanded its footprint in 2024 with Team 18 across the David Reynolds and Mark Winterbottom cars and will continue with the SCT Logistics/BJR team through Jaxon Evans, Talbot and a personal partnership with Chaz Mostert at WAU, his GT3 racing with Ferrari and his Momentum Motorsport GT4 team.
Wash It also sponsors Karting Australia and brings a wash vehicle for competitors’ transporters at each round of the Australian Kart Championship and over recent times, Ben has become a nationally accredited karting official.
“We’ve always been about the grassroots of the sport and that’s why we’re heavily involved at the karting level and why I get in and be an official and help out,” explained Ben Hennock. “We’re able to get guys like Chaz and Dave out to the track and while they might be mentoring our boys in some ways, the other kids can get photos with them and see that their dreams of being on the track are obtainable, because they started in the same place back in the day.”
The Champions of the Future (karting) Academy Program will be three day events promoted by RGMMC – who promote the FIA World Karting Championships and the global Rotax Max Grand Final Challenge.
Saturday and Sunday at each event follows the same platform – qualifying, heat races and final – re-setting each morning. The equipment for the 36 entries in each category are run under an arrive and drive platform – competitors receive a new kart at the beginning of the weekend and engines and tyres are part of a daily random ballot draw.
The first round of the Series will be March 27-31 in Italy.
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