Brendon Hartley

Brendon Hartley (born November 10, 1989 in Palmerston North) is a New Zealand race car driver currently competing in the British Formula Three Championship for Carlin Motorsport.

Career

Hartley was born in a family well integrated within motorsport. His father, Bryan, had raced in many forms of motorsport, most notably Formula Atlantic. At the age of six, Hartley began his motor racing career in kart racing, following his brother, Nelson's footsteps. Six years later, the young New Zealander competed in his first full–scale race championship, competing in the Formula First category. Up against many seasoned veterans, Hartley finished the season in seventh. In 2003, the thirteen year old got his first major break as he won that year's New Zealand Formula Ford Festival which resulted in him getting a drive for the following year's Formula Ford championship. In a car his brother used the previous year, he started four races and won two of them.

After a season in Formula Toyota New Zealand, Hartley moved to Europe, competing in the Eurocup Formula Renault and Formula Renault Northern European Cup (NEC). The New Zealander finished 14th and 10th in the Drivers' Championship in the Eurocup and North European Cup respectively, taking a podium position at Anderstorp in the latter. His second year in Formula Renault saw him stay in the Eurocup, but move from the NEC to the Italian championship. That year saw him take three wins in the Eurocup and three podiums in the Italian championship, and took championship title in the Eurocup. In 2007 Hartley also made his Formula Three debut in the Master of Formula Three at Zolder event. He finished an incredibly respectable 4th. This resulted in a test with A1 Team New Zealand and the role of the rookie driver for the series.

Formula 1

In February 2008, aged just 18, Hartley got his first taste of Formula One. He was invited to perform a show run for Red Bull Racing in Riyadh. From here he performed the initial 3 day shake down test for Toro Rosso's 2008 spec car, the STR3.

Racing Record

*Season in progress

Notes

External links

* [http://www.brendonhartley.co.nz/homepage.htm Brendon Hartley official website]