Fourteen-year-old Edward Kennedy took the USF Juniors paddock by storm when he swept the series’ Mid-Ohio round in July after debuting mid-season with VRD, all while entertaining a dual campaign in the Ligier Junior Formula Championship with MLT Motorsports. Feeder Series caught up with the Québec native, who aims to clinch LJFC’s inaugural Gen2 title this weekend at Barber.

By Marco Albertini

In the fourth round of the USF Juniors season at Mid-Ohio, eventual champion Karol Pasiewicz qualified on pole and finished second and fifth in the two races, nearly tripling his points lead to a comfortable 51.

Even with Pasiewicz’s chances of becoming Europe’s first USF Juniors champion growing, headlines about the weekend weren’t about him. The main topic of the paddock was instead 14-year-old Edward Kennedy, who asserted himself on his second weekend in the championship by winning both races. With his victory at 14 years and 57 days, he became the youngest race victor in USF Juniors history.

The Canadian’s rise through the ranks began in 2020, when he enrolled in the Ben Cooper Racing Academy prior to his competitive debut at the Coupe de Montréal later that year. During his karting career, which lasted until earlier this year, Kennedy achieved such accolades as winning the Canadian Karting Championship in both Mini Max and Mini Rok in 2022 and taking home the Kartstars Canada National Championship in Rotax Junior earlier in 2026.

He also made one-off international appearances in the 2023 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, 2024 FIA Karting World Championship, and the opening rounds of both the Champions of the Future Euro Series and the FIA Karting European Championship rounds at Campillos last year.

His proudest moment in his karting career, however, came last year in the US-based SKUSA Winter Series in Orlando, Florida, in a year when he struggled with setbacks on the international scene.

“My best moment in go-karting was when I got my first national podium, a second place in the SKUSA Winter Series,” Kennedy told Feeder Series. “Then I went to Campillos, but we didn’t have the best equipment. We had many mechanical failures when I went to Europe. [In] my go-karting days, sometimes we struggled a lot with equipment, a lot with engines and stuff. I was never really a good karting driver and it wasn’t for me, so I jumped up to cars pretty early.”

His decision to move up to cars – a decision supported by his father, who Kennedy said was ‘kind of done with’ the karting scene – came at the beginning of this year, while Kennedy was still 13. He joined the newly formed VRD Racing by Pole Position outfit for the YACademy Winter Series and finished eighth in the championship on his first few outings with the Tatuus JR-23 chassis.

When the USF Juniors season began, though,  Kennedy was still too young to compete. Drivers must be 14 or older to compete in the series, and Kennedy’s birthday was not until 8 May, after the first two rounds. Still, he was able to gain springtime mileage thanks to a technicality in one of USF Juniors’ rival series.

While FIA-certified F4 championships mandate drivers to be as young as 15, the Ligier Junior Formula Championship, which runs F4 cars, does not have any such rules. The championship introduced the Gen 2 class for 2026, featuring a Ligier JS F422 – the same chassis used in the FIA-certified F4 US Championship – with a detuned Ligier Storm V4 engine. Kennedy chose to enter LJFC with MLT Motorsports, who also compete in F4 US with Cole Medeiros, and ran all but one round in the series, which began in April at NOLA Motorsports Park.

“The USF is actually a bit faster than the [LJFC] Gen 2, and the gears aren’t as clunky,” he said. “The handling on the USF is better.”

Unlike USF Juniors, which has had an average grid size of 20.3 per round this year, LJFC’s Gen 2 class has only featured two cars per round since its inception. Kennedy’s sole rival has been Jack Speth, the only driver to have contested every race of the season. Though Speth has run three extra races, the 14-year-old Québec native has won all but one race and leads the championship by 13 points with two races to go. As in USF Juniors, he has broken the record for the youngest winner in LJFC history, taking his first overall and class victory at 13 years and 338 days.

“You’ve just got to push as hard as you can,” he said. “Last weekend at VIR it was a nice fight with [Speth]. Having one rival makes it a bit easier. I missed Road America, but now we’re back to leading the championship heading into Barber, so I’m very excited and I think we can win both races.”

Kennedy skipped Road America to make his USF Juniors bow in his home country at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. While his debut round was headlined by a fourth-place finish in race two, Kennedy truly made himself known at Mid-Ohio by fighting against much more experienced drivers to win both races. His strong form then snowballed into another win at Lime Rock – where he lost a second win after jumping the start –  and two further podiums to take seventh in overall points, far above his expectations at the start of the year.

On the other side of the VRD Racing garage was accomplished Dutch karter Dean Hoogendoorn, who also made his debut at Mosport just after turning 14. Despite the expectations, the Canadian also outclassed his Williams junior teammate, who took ninth in points with three podiums to his name.

“At the beginning of the year, I was thinking even a podium would be nice,” Kennedy explained. “My expectations weren’t very high. Then I got one win at Mid-Ohio, and I was like, ‘Surely we can push for third in the championship or something’. This weekend [at Road America], we didn’t do our best. The car wasn’t at its full potential and I wasn’t driving the best either, but I tried.”

Over in LJFC, Kennedy felt he had fulfilled his early-season expectations after securing 10 wins in 11 starts and leading the standings heading into Barber. For this weekend, he will face an additional rival in Ben Ramirez, who moves into the championship after racing in F4 US part-time earlier this year.

Next May, Kennedy will turn 15, the minimum age to drive in F4. While his plans for next year still remain unclear, Kennedy’s aim is to reach F1. As such, he has been exploring options to move to Europe next year, but if such a move happens, it is likely to come in the summer.

Interview by Michael McClure

Header photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography