Biography
Hawksworth originally started racing karts in the Junior Max category back in 2004 taking part in his first race at the Wombwell kart track in South Yorkshire just two weeks after his 13th birthday. Success at club level quickly followed and it wasn’t long before he picked up his first win against stiff national competition in the rain at the Gold Cup in only his sixth race.
Two seasons of National and International Junior Max competition followed with Jack teaming up with Protrain Racing and Gillard racing Karts. In his final season of juniors Jack went on to claim the Junior Max European title, finish 2nd in the World finals, 2nd in the BRDC Stars of tomorrow championship and 3rd overall in the British Super 1 series.
Aged 15 Hawksworth made the step up to the senior KZ shifter category in 2007, he went on to finish 2nd in the British Championship and take top rookie honors.
In 2008 Jack joined PDB Racing and renewed his partnership with Gillard for his maiden season on the European KZ scene. It turned out be an exciting one as Jack challenged for the 2008 KZ2 European championship title always fighting for the win at each and every round. It wasn’t to be however as a jump start penalty in Angerville and crashes at Mariembourg and Varennes effectively ended his title hopes. Despite this he took numerous podiums and a win in the highly competitive DSKM German Championship. The following 2 years Jack drove for Energy Corse SRL and then Maddox racing team with highlights being victory in the prestigious Trofeo Margutti and podiums in the KZ1 European Championship. In his final season with the Maddox racing team Hawksworth went on to finish 6th in the KZ1 European Championship 4th in the DSKM Championship and 2nd in the Trofeo Margutti he also qualified 4th on the grid for the KZ1 World Cup and won the British Kartmasters championship with Protrain Racing in a one off return to domestic competition in the Senior Rotax class.
At the end of 2010 Jack moved into open wheel car racing in the highly competitive Formula Renault U.K Winter Series with the one car Mark Burdett motorsport team. With only five days of testing under his belt Jack turned the tables on everyone by scoring pole position in every single round of the championship in a field of 20 drivers which contained some of the most experienced top European racers backed by Formula one teams such as Redbull. Hawksworth finished 3rd overall in the six round series and was the highest placed rookie by some margin. A full campaign in the 2011 Formula Renault U.K Championship with Mark Burdett Motorsport followed and after a turbulent campaign Jack finished 4th overall collecting numerous podiums and a win at Croft.
At the end of the 2011 season the decision was made for Jack to pursue opportunities in America and after topping the time sheets with Team Pelfrey in the official Star Mazda series test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Jack was delighted to sign for the team to compete in the highly competitive 2012 Star Mazda Series as part of the Mazda Road to Indy ladder. Jack dominated the series breaking the series records for most wins, poles and fastest laps in a season on his way to claiming the Star Mazda title and the $600,000 scholarship for the 2013 Indy Light Series.
In 2013 with the support of Mazda, Jack will race for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in the Firestone Indy Lights Series, the feeder series to the pinnacle of open wheel racing in America, the IZOD Indycar Series.
