Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography

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It’s hard to imagine anyone who had a better way to end July than Brad Majman.

The 15-year-old Melbourne native put the Ligier JS F4 Series field in his tracks at New Jersey Motorsports Park, securing wins in all three races. Now, heading into the next and final round at the Circuit of the Americas, Majman looks to capitalize on some of the confidence he gained in the Garden State.

“I was getting a little bit anxious (in previous rounds),” Majman said. “I’ve had a couple little things go wrong and got a couple penalties here and there. It’s just little things that let you down. But, it definitely gives me confidence to know that you are capable of putting that together, especially in my first year of cars.”

Majman is one of four drivers driving for powerhouse Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport, who carry a nearly insurmountable 97-point lead in the constructor’s standings heading into the final three races of the season. 

However, Majman had to get up to speed throughout the season as a few of those teammates: Kekai Haunaio and Bacon Zelenka, were already accomplished single-seater podium finishers heading into this season. 

Through racing in the Formula 4 United States Championship, both also had already ran the same tracks with the same car, a luxury Majman did not have in his first season of racing cars.

Being around that experience is something Majman feels fueled his growth.

“Having experienced and good drivers like Kekai (Hauanio) and Bacon (Zelenka) around is great,” Majman said. “You can look at their data and ask them ‘What did you do here?’ Or, if I’m feeling something in the car, maybe I can come in and ask if they were feeling the same thing.”

While Majman showed flashes of what he was able to do in the series earlier this year, most notably in a second-place finish in May at Road America, putting it together for a whole weekend had been a struggle.

Until New Jersey, Majman had not had a weekend where he finished in the top-five in all three races, let alone on the top step of the podium. 

He credited productive practice sessions in the lead-up to the race weekend for helping him find his commandeering pace.

“We’ve been trying a couple different things (in practice) and we just built a solid foundation,” Majman said.

After qualifying on the front row, Majman was able to beat the field in the long-run with consistent lap times as he led Hauanio, the championship leader, in all three races. Majman also could show the flashy, one-lap pace when he needed, as he set the fastest lap in all three races. Those were his first fastest laps of the season.

By taking those wins, Majman moved up to fourth in the standings, jumping both JENSEN’s Jake Pollack and International Motorsport’s Maite Caceres. It also put him within striking distance of teammate Zelenka for third in the championship. Those two are now 2.5 points apart.

“I could now prove it to myself,” Majman said. “That I’m capable of (winning) just as well as I’ve been doing go karts.”

Majman’s karting accolades stand among the very best of drivers on the Ligier JS F4 grid. His dad casually drove karts and got Majman involved at a very young age, as the Australian began karting at age 5.

It was something Majman said his mom was a bit cautious of, making sure that the activity wasn’t being forced upon him. But the love for karting continued to develop more and more. By the time he was 10, he got the chance to travel to Las Vegas to take part in SKUSA SuperNationals, where he got to travel to America and see how he stacked up against some of the most competitive karters in the world.

After that trip, he continued to race at home and abroad to rack up accolades. In his last full season before jumping to cars, he took third place in the KA2 class in the Australian Kart Championship.

As frequently as wins came in karting, those wins eluded him at the much higher level of competition that Ligier JS F4 provided him in cars. However, the weekend at New Jersey gave him a sense of how he felt before his car racing career started.

Now, he just has to wait out a three-month period back home before he can travel back to the United States and compete at the Circuit of the Americas in the season finale. 

Majman’s mature mindset is looking forward to that opportunity, but also takes in account truly how much time has passed

“When there’s such a big break in the calendar, you’re happy with (the wins),” Majman said. “But, by now, it feels like I could go back already and it would be a level playing field again.”