The junior single-seater ace chasing the American dream
After working - and winning - his way up America's single-seater ladder, Indy Lights newcomer Kyle Kirkwood could be on the cusp of making it to the top table
Aside from having the perfect name for a successful career in the United States, 21-year-old Kyle Kirkwood seems pretty much destined for an IndyCar seat just now.
He collected multiple titles during his formative karting career before making a victorious transition to car racing in an F1600 part-season. On his maiden outing in the Formula Ford series, he won the season-opener at Road Atlanta and set the championship lap record in the process. A further six races followed and he wound up 16th in the standings.
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Matt Kew is Autosport’s F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 following stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.
Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better-suited to increased field work.
Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.
His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham’s banked oval.
Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield - receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.
He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing are undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.
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