New Zealand’s Brendon Hartley won the Euro Formula 3 Championship race at Brands Hatch in England overnight, the 19-year-old delighted to be back on the top step of the podium after a grueling first season in the world’s toughest junior racing category.

“Scoring my first win in the Formula 3 Euro Series is just great. I didn’t make any mistakes during the race – which is why I have won – but we were also lucky because I picked up a slow puncture and the tyre was almost flat by the time I got back to parc ferme after the finish,” said Hartley.

It was Hartley’s first victory since the British Formula 3 race at Spa in 2008 and he led from start to finish. He started from pole position in the ‘reverse top eight’ format after finishing eighth in the Saturday race.

The maiden Euro F3 win delighted Carlin Motorsport, the British team that that has been developing a new Volkswagen engine this season to compete against the established Mercedes-powered teams.

Hartley dominated yesterday’s 52 lap race on the 1.9km Brands Hatch Indy circuit from the front. He maintained a slender lead through two restarts behind the safety car and held off a late challenge as he struggled with the deflating left rear tyre.

“I made a good start and was pulling a lead until I started to lose rear grip because of the tyre. It was strange because we also had a deflating tyre during the Saturday race.

“It’s been a struggle against the long established Euro F3 teams that are more experienced with the Kumho tyres; so I am also happy for my Carlin team. They have worked very hard over the two years since they joined the series.”

The Red Bull driver kept his cool at the start with a perfect getaway and kept second-placed Bird a safe distance behind. An accident on lap 19 brought out the safety car and closed up the field, but Hartley made the perfect restart to again pull away from Bird. A second safety car period on lap 30 bunched up the field, but once again Hartley kept his cool to control the pace from now second-placed man Sims.

“I’m so pleased to have won here; it’s been too long since my last really good result. I didn’t need to push, I just had to concentrate on controlling the race. I know this was a reverse grid race, but everyone in the top ten of this championship is good enough to win, so I’m happy.”

Team principal Trevor Carlin added, “Brendon drove an absolutely flawless race from
the lights going out to the flag coming down; it was one of the best drives I’ve ever
seen at Brands Hatch. He made the best start and coped very well with the pressure
of two safety car restarts. The team have worked very hard to get this result and
today everything came together for us.”

British drivers Alexander Sims and Sam Bird completed the podium after the 14th season round in the Formula 3 Euro Series. Jules Bianchi retired in the pits after six laps, but still retains his championship lead with a margin of 16 points.

Sims took second after a charging drive, passing Bird when he ran wide on the exit of Druids. Title-chaser Christian Vietoris benefited from a late mistake by Esteban Gutierrez to move up to fourth, which could prove valuable as points leader Jules Bianchi again failed to score after he retired early.

On Saturday Mika Maki took his first Formula 3 Euro Series win of the season in the opening race of the weekend at Brands Hatch. The Finn, who started second on the grid, snatched the lead from Valtteri Bottas at the start, and then sustained pressure from his countryman throughout the race to take the win.

The race was completed in the afternoon after a long stoppage forced organisers to postpone the restart. The red flags were put out after Jules Bianchi and Tiago Geronimi had a heavy crash at Paddock Hill Bend, and Maki then made a good restart from behind the safety car when things got back underway several hours later.

Vietoris took third from his Mucke Motorsport team-mate Alexander Sims at the start of the race, which means he has made up six points on championship leader Bianchi, reducing the Frenchman’s lead to 19.

Behind the two Mucke cars, Christopher Zanella took his best result of the season with fifth, while Sam Bird took sixth place.

7th September, 2009.

Issued by Murray Taylor on behalf of Red Bull New Zealand.

Telephone: 09 445 0209
Mobile: 027 294 7930

Brands Hatch – Race 1

Pos Driver Team Car Time/Gap
1. Mika Maki Signature D/V 43m59.183s
2. Valtteri Bottas ART D/M +0.549
3. Christian Vietoris Mucke D/M +1.844
4. Alexander Sims Mucke D/M +5.150
5. Christopher Zanella Motopark D/M +5.870
6. Sam Bird Mucke D/M +6.674
7. Esteban Gutierrez ART D/M +7.089
8. Brendon Hartley Carlin D/V +10.216
9. Roberto Merhi Manor D/M +10.942
10. Jake Rosenzweig Carlin D/V +13.074
11. Cesar Ramos Manor D/M +14.498
12. Adrien Tambay ART D/M +15.014
13. Jean-Karl Vernay Signature D/V +16.197
14. Marco Wittmann Mucke D/M +16.922
15. Henkie Waldschmidt SG D/M +17.552
16. Tim Sandtler Prema D/M +20.179
17. Pedro Nunes Manor D/M +21.190
18. Andrea Caldarelli SG D/M +21.654
19. Johan Jokinen Kolles D/V +22.530
20. Basil Shaaban Prema D/M +26.108

Retirements

Nick Tandy Kolles D/V 22 laps
Tiago Geronimi Signature D/V 10 laps
Jules Bianchi ART D/M 10 laps
Atte Mustonen Motopark D/M 3 laps

Brands Hatch – Race 2

Pos Driver Team Car Time/Gap

1. Brendon Hartley Carlin D/V 40m23.598s
2. Alexander Sims Mucke D/M + 0.359s
3. Sam Bird Mucke D/M + 0.922s
4. Christian Vietoris Mucke D/M + 1.692s
5. Esteban Gutierrez ART D/M + 3.414s
6. Mika Maki Signature D/V + 5.288s
7. Christopher Zanella Motopark D/M + 6.154s
8. Jean Karl Vernay Signature D/V + 8.526s
9. Tim Sandtler Prema D/M + 13.171s
10. Marco Wittmann Mucke D/M + 13.670s
11. Roberto Merhi Manor D/M + 13.994s
12. Nick Tandy Kolles D/V + 16.466s
13. Henkie Waldschmidt SG D/M + 16.968s
14. Andrea Caldarelli SG D/M + 17.240s
15. Valtteri Bottas ART D/M + 17.800s
16. Jake Rosenzweig Carlin D/V + 21.750s
17. Pedro Enrique Manor D/M + 22.663s
18. Johan Jokinen Kolles D/V + 1 lap

Retirements:

Cesar Ramos Manor D/M 25 laps
Adrien Tambay ART D/M 25 laps
Basil Shaaban Prema D/M 17 laps
Jules Bianchi ART D/M 6 laps
Atte Mustonen Motopark D/M 2 laps
Tiago Geronimi Signature D/V 0 laps

Car designation: D/M, Dallara-Mercedes; D/V, Dallara-Volkswagen