At just 17 years old, Toronto driver Anthony Martella delivered a breakout campaign in USF2000 in 2025, quickly establishing himself as one of the most composed and competitive young drivers on the Road to Indy ladder.

Martella earned a landmark victory at the Freedom 75 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, the series’ marquee oval event. In a commanding performance for a rookie, he controlled race pace, demonstrated maturity and patience in traffic, and secured one of the defining wins of the season.

Across the year, Martella recorded multiple top-five and top-ten finishes and placed 7th in the final championship standings in one of North America’s most competitive development series. He will return to Exclusive Autosport for the 2026 USF F2000 Championship Presented by Continental Tire

Series champion and standout competitor across Canadian and U.S. oval racing — received the 2024 JMF Motorsports CMHF Rising Star Award after a dominant and remarkably consistent early career.

The Milverton, Ontario driver began racing karts at age seven before advancing into Late Model competition, where he quickly emerged as one of Canada’s top oval prospects. Steckly earned his first APC United Late Model Series pole and victory in 2021, finished runner-up in the standings as a rookie in 2022, and went on to win back-to-back APC championships in 2023 and 2024, collecting eight wins over four seasons and an impressive 28% win rate.

In 2024, Steckly also competed full-time in the ASA STARS National Tour, finishing second in the championship and earning Rookie of the Year honours. A highlight of his season was victory in the prestigious Redbud 400 in Indiana. Alongside his Late Model and ASA programs, he has also competed in select NASCAR Canada Series events and U.S. Pro Late Model competition.

After an impressive 2023 season, this young Canadian racer has recently completed the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship in New Zealand where he showcased his talent on the global stage. In only his second year racing cars, Woods-Toth joined Kiwi Motorsports for the Oceania Championship which was held over five consecutive weekends in January and February. Competing against some of the best young talent in the world, Patrick not only clinched rookie title, he secured a commendable third place in the overall standings. Through the 15 races of the championship, he earned four podium finishes and amassed a total of 255 points.

During the 2023 season, Woods-Toth’s achievements in the Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda with Crosslink Kiwi Motorsports were nothing short of remarkable. Over the course of 18 races, he captured four wins and secured podium finishes in 14 races.

Mac Clark received the honour while working his way up the IndyCar support ladder. He won five of 16 races to claim the USF Juniors Championship in 2022, before moving up to USF2000. He finished fifth in the standings in 2023, on the strength of six podiums and wins at Lucas Oil Raceway and Mid-Ohio. For 2024, Clark moved up to the USF2000 Pro Series.

Marco Signoretti was named a Rising Star following a dominant year in sports cars. He won all 12 races in the inaugural FEL Sports Car Championship Canada season, driving a Multimatic Ford Mustang to the GT4 championship in 2021. He went on to race in the British GT Championship in 2022, finishing seventh in the GT4 standings.

Raphaël Lessard was competing full-time in the NASCAR Truck Series when he received the award. He scored his first win and finished 12th in points that season, at NASCAR’s third-highest level. He previously became known through short track events, such as the Snowball Derby, and won his debut race in the NASCAR Canada Series in 2019.

Nicholas Latifi was an F1 test driver and full-time Formula 2 competitor when he was named a Rising Star in 2018. He won a sprint race and finished ninth in the F2 standings that season, before collecting three feature wins, one sprint win, and a runner-up points finish in 2019. He made his F1 debut with Williams Racing in 2020.

Cayden Lapcevich was racing in Canada’s top stock car series when he received the award. He won three races and finished third in the NASCAR Canada Series standings in 2017. He entered the year as the defending series champion, having recorded three wins, nine top-fives and a 3.4 average finish in 12 races, as a rookie, in 2016.

Lance Stroll was racing in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship when he was named the inaugural Rising Star Award recipient in 2016. He went on to win the F3 championship that year, on the strength of 14 wins in 30 races. He then moved up to Formula One in 2017, joining Williams Martini Racing; he recorded his first career F1 podium that season, in Azerbaijan.