Hartley Wings His Way To Macau Grand Prix

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Hartley Wings His Way To Macau Grand Prix

New Zealand driver Brendon Hartley was today announced as a Red Bull sponsored entry in the Macau Grand Prix, the world’s most prestigious Formula 3 race and a significant stepping stone for motorsport’s single seater stars of the future.

The 17-year-old Palmerston North driver will compete in the 25th Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix on November 17-18 in a Dallara-Mercedes run by top British team Carlin Motorsport.

Macau is an exceptional opportunity for the kiwi youngster who currently leads the Formula Renault Euro Cup with only two rounds remaining in Spain and Portugal later this month.

Carlin Motorsport, one of the most high profile and respected teams outside F1, has played an integral part in the careers of Grand Prix drivers such Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel.

Seventeen of this year’s Formula 1 field have raced at Macau, including Lewis Hamilton, Nick Heidfeld, Giancarlo Fisichella and Rosberg. Former F1 World Champions Damon Hill and Mika Hakkinen also raced in F3 at Macau.

This year one young driver will become the 25th name on a list of Macau F3 winners that includes the likes of Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, David Coulthard, and Takuma Sato.

The first Grand Prix run to F3 regulations was won in 1983 by Senna. The Brazilian’s nephew Bruno will return to the waterfront city near Hong Kong next month in an attempt to follow in his famous uncle’s footsteps.

The line up for the Silver Jubilee edition of the Macau F3 Grand Prix is solid gold. All corners of the globe will be represented on the grid, with drivers from South American, Europe, Japan, Asia; and Hartley from New Zealand.

Included in the 31 car field announced in Macau today are drivers from the ultra-competitive F3 Euroseries including Romain Grosjean of France, returning to Macau for a third time, along with Euro series rivals Sebastien Buemi of Switzerland and Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg, the A1GP Champion who won the Zandvoort Masters of F3 earlier this year.

On his Formula 3 debut, Brendon Hartley was an impressive fourth in that Zandvoort Masters at Zolder in August. Macau will be Hartley’s second ever race in Formula 3.
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Hartley’s Carlin Motorsport team mates at Macau will be fellow circuit newcomers Sam Bird of Britain and Niall Breen of Ireland who have both won races during their debut F3 seasons in Britain.

The daunting streets of Macau will be a tough test for the young New Zealander. However, in 2005 at the age of just 14, he won the first ever Toyota Racing Series race at Timaru, went on to win four races and finished fourth overall in the inaugural TRS Championship.

Hartley is quickly gaining recognition as one of the best young Red Bull drivers in Europe and this invitation to Macau is seen as an important step in his career.

Before winging his way to the Macau Grand Prix, Hartley has three remaining European races before the end of this month. This weekend (October 13-14) he is competing in the final round of the Italian Formula Renault 2.0 Championship. He currently lies third in the Italian series in which he has taken two pole positions, two fastest laps and four second placings.

More significantly, Hartley has the final Formula Renault Euro Cup races at Estoril in Portugal on October 20-21 and Barcelona, a week later, on October 27-28.

During his impressive 2007 Euro Cup season to date, Hartley has scored four race wins, two second placings and taken three pole positions and three fastest laps.

He has been in the top six at seven of the ten races held to date and currently has a 45pt championship lead over his Red Bull team mate Stefano Colletti from Monaco.

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