Local driver Zachary Boodram proud of year’s success, eyes 2025

DAVID SCARLETT

IN 2024, Trinidad and Tobago has been well represented on the race track by young racing prodigy, Zachary Boodram.

He comes from racing royalty being the son of Franklyn Boodram and the grandson of Frankie Boodram, who are legends in both local and regional circuit racing.

Zachary, 26, has been part of the racing landscape since he was a child. He became a competitive racer at the age of 12 and his journey took him from karting to the Formula 4 Mexican Championship two years later, where he aspired to eventually reach Formula 1 (F1).

However, the F1 dream required financial support that Boodram, unfortunately, did not have and he returned to Trinidad to continue his career in a different way.

Locally, he raced at the TT Group Four Championship and was crowned champion twice in 2021 and 2022.

He was also the winner of the Tobago Hill Climb King of the Hill in 2023 and is the current record holder in that event.

Zachary’s accolades in his impressive young career so far extends to being champion of the TT One-Hour Endurance (2019), the RotaxInternational Championship (2015), the Future Champion Challenge (2014), as well as being a runner-up at the Junior Max Championship (2015) and the Mini Junior Max Championship (2013).

This year, Zachary broke into the Grand Touring/Gran Tursimo (GT) arena and produced exceptional performances including winning the Panama Grand Prix of the GT Challenge of the Americas on July 28. It was his first time competing at the GT Challenge event and he debuted his recently acquired LamborghiniHuracanGT3, which he described as a “fantastic experience.”

He qualified for the first round in pole position with the fastest lap time of 59.888 seconds, ahead of a track who all clocked over one minute.

In the first round, Zachary unfortunately lost his pole lead due to an incident that required the safety car’s intervention. That resulted in Guatemala’s Juan Diego Hernández taking the lead. Hernández maintained his lead and Zachary finished second.

In the final race, the battle between the TT racer and Hernández continued with both drivers alternating first and second. However, in the third-to-last lap, Zachary stormed past his rival to gain the lead and he kept his position to win the Panama Grand Prix.

Zachary also added to his growing pedigree by recently winning the Costa Rica GT Challenge of the Americas on December 2. He earned the title of three-hour Absolute Champion, creating history by being the first TT driver to win the event, which was previously dominated by Latin American drivers.

In an interview with Newsday, he expressed his winning experience saying, “The experience was nice. (It was my) first time going to Costa Rica, and the first time going to the majority of the countries that we raced in (Dominican Republic and El Salvador).

“We have been second in the Championship all year and have been competing for first and second (in almost every race), and all the countries were super excited to see us.”

His racing team, Team Speedway, finished second in the overall GT Challenge of the Americas Championship, a feat that Zachary was proud of, particularly after the team missed the first Grand Prix in April.

He stated that Team Speedway will be competing from the first event of the championship in 2025 and he is hopeful that his performances will attract the attention of brands who will be willing to support him and his team.

“(Having) switched to GT racing, we raced (against) manufacturer cars like Lamborghini, Audi and Toyota.

“We have raced among the best in Latin America. (At the) Costa Rica (event), there were two professional Lamborghini drivers that we managed to beat. In the Domincan Republic, there were two professional Porsche drivers from the US that we were able to beat. I hope that we can open a door to somewhere in the US or Europe where a manufacturer or team will see us and help us to continue to grow.”

The young Boodram believes that local racing has great potential to become more developed, but it is often plagued by lack of public support.

He said, “There’s a lot of local talent that are striving to do better and will do better once they get the right push and momentum.

“(But), the public doesn’t know much about racing anymore like how the older heads would have known. I think this is because of (the lack of) advertising and the time that the sport lost (when the track was closed in the 2000s).”

He continued, “Trinidad has a massive racing fraternity and I think people would love if the Government just gave it a little extra push like for football and cricket. The TT Automobile Sports Association (TTASA) has done really good over the years and did their best. But, without the support and assistance from the Government, (it’s difficult to promote the sport further).”

Despite the challenges faced, Zachary and Team Speedway are proud of their performances in 2024, which mostly consisted of competition in the GT Challenge of the Americas. They earned three first-place finishes, four second-place finishes and one pole position.

Zachary plans to enjoy this year’s successes for the remainder of 2024 and he looks forward to add to his achievements in 2025. He declared, “I aspire to fly the TT flag as far as I can reach.”