Motorsport: Hartley chases Macau glory

Brendon Hartley admits he's had a disappointing F3 season. Photo / Supplied

The Macau Formula Three grand prix hands New Zealand driver Brendon Hartley a golden opportunity this weekend to put right a disappointing European season.

In a year that started with high hopes after he was named reserve driver with the senior Red Bull Formula One team in May, Hartley's season in European Formula Three and the Renault World Series turned sour because of technical issues and sheer bad luck.

His Formula One involvement was brief when he was replaced within weeks by fellow Red Bull development programme colleague Jaime Algersuari after he decided he was being stretched with too many commitments.

Spain's Algersuari went on to makes his Formula One debut with Red Bull's junior Formula One team, Toro Rosso, while Hartley continued his test role in the simulator at Red Bull headquarters in Milton Keynes.

With his British-based Carlin team unable to work their magic with the Dallara-Volkswagen combination, Hartley finished 11th in the 10-round European F3 series, scoring just 15 points from 20 races.

"It has been a very disappointing year," Hartley said.

"F3 didn't go so well as we were never really fast enough. We got one race win but we never had that pace on a regular basis."

In the Renault world series he finished 15th with 26 points with the French Tech 1 team.

The Macau grand prix, whose list of previous winners includes such luminaries as the late three-time F1 champion Ayrton Senna, seven-times F1 champion Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard, has him excited.

"It is one of the hardest races of the year over all the categories as it contains the young stars of world racing and this year's line-up has a lot of experienced third year drivers."

Hartley will be driving his last race with Carlin Motorsport which will be fielding a four-strong team.

His teammates include Australian Daniel Ricciardo, 19, who won the British F3 title this year and Henry Arundel, 21, a British earl.

Hartley, 20, and Ricciardo will team up at the Tech 1 outfit for the Renault world series next season.

Hartley's main rivals will be last year's teammate and reigning Japanese F3 champion Marcus Ericsson, European F3 champion Jules Bianchi, Briton Sam Bird and Italian F3 champion Daniel Zampieri.

Japan's Tom's team, led by Ericsson, will be on the hunt for their third successive Macau victory.

Ricciardo, Ericsson and Bianchi will start as favourites but Hartley will draw on good memories from last year's Macau experience.

He started from 20th on the grid and sliced through the field to finish third, clocking the fastest lap of the race along the way.

The Palmerston North driver is an acknowledged master of street circuits.

He recorded the fastest lap at the Renault world series round at Monaco this year, his one minute 26.609 second flyer being nearly a second faster than any other driver. Two drive-by penalties though, saw him finish 17th.

"We were fast in Macau last year so we will be hoping to be another couple of steps up on the podium," Hartley said.

"We have had more street circuit experience at Monaco - but I love the Macau track," Hartley said.

"It has a very long straight, then through very narrow streets with lots of corners in the hill section, followed by a couple of corners in the third sector which bring you onto the main straight.

"You get a big buzz when you complete a fast lap.

"It is really the most meaningful race of the year and to win it will be pretty special."

Practice and qualifying for the 30 entries will be held today today and tomorrow.

A 10-lap qualifying race will be held on Saturday with the grand prix starting at 9.30pm NZ time on Sunday.

- NZPA