New Zealand driver Brendon Hartley broke his run of bad luck when he won race two in the seventh round of the European Formula Three championship at the Brands Hatch circuit in England this morning.
The talented Palmerston North teenager had gone eight races in the series without scoring asingle point because of technical problems with his car and after he incurred a number of race penalties.
Following on from his eighth-place finish in yesterday's race one and reverse grid pole position for race two, Hartley gave his British Carlin Motorsport team their first win of the season on home ground.
Hartley, 19, the former Red Bull Racing Formula One test driver, produced a flawless performance to stave off Mucke Motorsport pair and home favourites Alexander Sims and Sam Bird.
He led from start to finish in a race that was twice interrupted by the safety car.
Hartley timed his restarts to perfection to fend off the challenges of Bird and Sims.
Sims took second after a charging drive, passing Bird when he ran wide on the exit of the Druids corner.
Both Britons closed Hartley down in the closing stages, but with passing almost impossible on the Brands IndyCars circuit, Hartley was able to hold on comfortably.
Title-chaser Christian Vietoris (Mucke) benefited from a late mistake by ART's Esteban Gutierrez to move up to fourth, which could prove useful as points leader Jules Bianchi (ART) again failed to score after he retired early on.
Race one winner, Mika Maki, came home sixth for Signature following a race-long dice with Motopark's Christopher Zanella.
Maki's teammate Jean-Karl Vernay bagged the final point in eighth.
" Having scored my maiden race win in the Formula 3 Euroseries is just great," Hartley said.
"I am also happy for my Carlin team. They have been working very hard over the last two years in the Formula 3 Euroseries.
"I didn't make any mistakes during the race, which is why I have won."
Hartley is 11th in the championship on 15 points with three rounds remaining. Bianchi tops the standings with 74 points.
