CHARLIE CLARKE

Charlie Clarke has been a fixture of the New Zealand karting scene since he first stepped into a race seat at age six. Representing Rodin Cars from the very beginning of his career, Charlie has developed into a driver defined by his methodical smoothness, fast laps as his remarkable resilience.

Charlie’s journey has been one of extraordinary grit. Following a life-threatening racing accident shortly after his seventh birthday, his return to the track—and his subsequent climb to the front of the national grid—has been very special. This recently culminated in a successful 2025 season where Charlie podiumed in nearly every Tier 1/2 NZ racing championship and won the New Zealand Rotax Max Challenge Series Champion in the VMR class, cementing his status as one of the country’s top junior talents.

Currently a student at Aquinas College in Tauranga, where he has received High Sporting Honours for his racing, Charlie is now entering a pivotal transition year. Driven by a dream to follow in the footsteps of Rodin heroes like Liam Lawson and Louis Sharp, for 2026 his focus is split between his final year in the Vortex Mini Rok (VMR) class and his first definitive steps toward racing open wheel race cars in Formula First.