Hitech Grand Prix (formerly known as Hitech Racing) is a British
motor racing
Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...
team. It was founded in 2002 by Dennis Rushen and David Hayle.
The team started racing in the
British Formula 3 Championship
The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single seat ...
in 2003. The team also competed in the South American Formula Three Series, namely the
Formula 3 Sudamericana
Formula 3 Sudamericana was a South American Formula Three championship. It was inaugurated in 1987 and primarily held races in Brazil and Argentina, with a small number of events held in other countries across the continent. Its most notable gr ...
. Currently the team competes in
FIA Formula 2 Championship
The FIA Formula 2 Championship is a second-tier single-seater championship organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Held on racing circuits, the championship was introduced in 2017, following the rebranding of the l ...
,
FIA Formula 3 Championship
The FIA Formula 3 Championship is a third-tier international single-seater racing championship and organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship launched in 2019 as a feeder series for the FIA Formula 1 W ...
,
GB3 Championship
The GB3 Championship is a single seater motorsport series based in the United Kingdom. The championship is the UK's premier single-seater category, and is aimed at young racing drivers moving up from FIA Formula 4 championships or Karting. Ha ...
and the
F3 Asian Championship
The Formula Regional Asian Championship is an FIA-certified regional Formula 3 racing series, which started in 2018. On 26 January 2018 it was confirmed that pan-Asian promoter Top Speed would organise the championship. Despite using Formula R ...
.
W Series and
2019 FIA Motorsport Games Formula 4 Cup are currently operated by Hitech GP.
History
Formula Three
In its first season, Hitech scored five
pole positions and six podium finishes, with drivers
Danny Watts
Danny Watts is a British professional racing driver.
Career
He was born in Aylesbury, and started racing in 1993, when he began karting. After five seasons of karting, he stepped up to single seater racing in 1998 in the UK Formula First ch ...
and
Eric Salignon
The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization).
The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
.
Andrew Thompson also contributed some points finishes. Watts finished the British F3 Championship in 5th place in a season that included a memorable win at
Castle Combe
Castle Combe is a village and civil parish within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Wiltshire, England. The village is around north-west of Chippenham. A castle once stood in the area, but was demolished centuries ago.
The vi ...
. In the
Korea Super Prix
The International Formula 3 Korea Super Prix was a Formula Three race held annually on the streets of Changwon, Republic of Korea between 1999 and 2003. The event enjoyed brief success as a sister 'flyaway' event to complement the season-ending M ...
, guest driver
Richard Antinucci
Richard Antinucci (born January 26, 1981) is an American race car driver.
Career
In 1998 he competed in Italian Formula Ford, moving to the British Formula Renault Winter Series in 1999 and to Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup in 2000, where he st ...
achieved Hitech's first international race win.
In the second season, 2004, Thompson was retained and joined by drivers
Marko Asmer
Marko Asmer (born 30 July 1984) is an Estonian racing driver, who won the British Formula 3 Championship title in 2007. Asmer is also the first Estonian to test a Formula One car, having tested for the Williams BMW team in 2003, after just hal ...
,
James Walker, and
Lucas Di Grassi.
Di Grassi had two wins and was classified in eighth place overall. Another of that year's highlights was a podium finish on Di Grassi's début at the
Macau Grand Prix
The Macau Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is a motorsport road race for automobiles and motorcycles held annually in Macau. It is the only street circuit racing event in which both cars and motorcycles participate, and one of onl ...
. Asmer managed to finish the championship closing the top 10.
In 2005, Hitech retained Asmer and brought in
Tim Bridgman from
Formula BMW
Formula BMW was a junior racing formula for single seater cars. It was positioned at the bottom of the motorsport career ladder alongside the longer established Formula Ford category. Like Formula Ford, it was intended to function as the young k ...
.
Asmer was the best of the duo, scoring no less than five second places, but missing out on an actual win, even so managing to snatch the fourth place in the championship.
For 2006, Hitech brought back James Walker, alongside
James Jakes
James Jakes (born 4 August 1987 in Leeds, West Yorkshire) is a British racing driver.
Career
T-Cars
Jakes started his racing career in 2002 competing in 5 rounds of the T-Car Championship. In 2003 James continued in T-cars, finishing 2nd ...
and
Salvador Durán
Salvador Durán Sánchez (born 6 May 1985) is a Mexican race car driver who raced in the FIA Formula E Championship for the Amlin Aguri team. Durán has also previously competed in A1 Grand Prix, Formula Renault 3.5, and the NASCAR Toyota Serie ...
, with Jakes finishing 8th, Walker 9th and Durán 10th in a poor season that only heralded one podium finish (achieved by Walker).
In 2007 Hitech retained the services of Marko Asmer who joined Austrian Walter Grubmuller for an assault on the British F3 Championship.
Hitech and Asmer took the title, scoring 11 poles, 11 wins (from 22 races) and 9 fastest laps. Marko Asmer secured the title long before the final round and in the end by a margin of 85 points from
Maro Engel.
In 2008,
Walter Grubmuller was joined by the youngest driver in the sport,
Max Chilton
Maximilian Alexander Chilton (born 21 April 1991) is a British racing driver who last competed for Carlin Motorsport in the IndyCar Series, before announcing his retirement from IndyCar in February 2022. Prior to IndyCar, he competed in Formula ...
.
For 2012, Brazilian
Felipe Guimarães
Felipe "Lopes" Guimarães (born March 22, 1991, in Anápolis, Goiás) is a Brazilian racing driver.
After a childhood in karting, Guimarães transitioned to the extremely competitive Formula Three Sudamericana series at the age of 16 and finishe ...
took 4 wins and two poles to end fourth with Hitech Racing Brazil in the
Formula Three Sudamericana
Formula 3 Sudamericana was a South American Formula Three championship. It was inaugurated in 1987 and primarily held races in Brazil and Argentina, with a small number of events held in other countries across the continent. Its most notable g ...
series.
In 2013, Hitech's Brazilian ace
Felipe Guimarães
Felipe "Lopes" Guimarães (born March 22, 1991, in Anápolis, Goiás) is a Brazilian racing driver.
After a childhood in karting, Guimarães transitioned to the extremely competitive Formula Three Sudamericana series at the age of 16 and finishe ...
took both the
Formula 3 Brazil Open and the
Formula Three Sudamericana
Formula 3 Sudamericana was a South American Formula Three championship. It was inaugurated in 1987 and primarily held races in Brazil and Argentina, with a small number of events held in other countries across the continent. Its most notable g ...
series titles, winning 13 races and obtaining 7 poles and 12 fastest laps in the process.
In 2014, Brazilian
Felipe Guimarães
Felipe "Lopes" Guimarães (born March 22, 1991, in Anápolis, Goiás) is a Brazilian racing driver.
After a childhood in karting, Guimarães transitioned to the extremely competitive Formula Three Sudamericana series at the age of 16 and finishe ...
defended his
Formula 3 Brazil Open title with Hitech Racing Brazil in January 2014 at the
2014 Formula 3 Brazil Open with his teammate
Victor Franzoni
Victor Franzoni (Born October 5, 1995 in Sao Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian racing driver. Franzoni raced various European racing series before competing the American USF2000 series.
Career
After karting Franzoni made his auto racing debut in ...
finishing second.
In 2015, the team changed its name to Hitech GP, and made guest appearances in the two final rounds of the
European Formula 3 Championship
The FIA Formula 3 European Championship was a European Formula Three(F3) auto racing competition, organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). After one season of the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy, the FIA revived th ...
with
Alex Sims.
In 2016, Hitech joined forces with
ART Grand Prix
ART Grand Prix is a French motor racing team that competes in formula single-seaters in Europe. In 2012, it competed in the GP2 Series and GP3 Series as Lotus GP to reflect sponsorship from British sports and racing car manufacturer Lotus. The ...
, to make a full season in the
FIA F3 European Championship.
George Russell and rookies
Ben Barnicoat
Ben Barnicoat (born 20 December 1996) is a British racing driver who currently serves as a McLaren factory racing driver, while also competing in the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship for Project 1 Motorsport. He has previously raced in the ...
and
Nikita Mazepin
Nikita Dmitryevich Mazepin ( rus, Ники́та Дми́триевич Мазе́пин, p=nʲɪˈkʲitə ˈdmʲɪtrʲɪjɪvʲɪtɕ mɐˈzʲepʲɪn; born 2 March 1999) is a Russian professional racing driver who competes in rally raid.
A fo ...
will race for the team. 2015's guest driver Sims again appeared in the 2016 season's final round at
Hockenheim
Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz M ...
.
The following season, only Mazepin remained with the team, he was joined by 2016
Prema driver
Ralf Aron
Ralf Aron (born 21 March 1998) is an Estonian former racing driver, who competed in the Italian F4 Championship, ADAC Formula 4 and European Formula 3 championships for Prema Powerteam and Hitech GP.
He is now a team manager at Prema, but c ...
,
Jake Hughes
Jake Hughes (born 30 May 1994) is a British racing driver and winner of the inaugural BRDC Formula 4 Championship. He has won multiple races at Formula 3 level, and is set to compete in the 2022–23 Formula E season with Neom McLaren.
Caree ...
and Honda Junior
Tadasuke Makino
is a Japanese racing driver. He has competed in a range of motorsport disciplines, including Super GT and European Formula 3. In 2018, Makino joined the FIA Formula 2 Championship with the series' defending champions Russian Time. Currently, Ma ...
.
For 2018 the team signed
Enaam Ahmed
Enaam Ahmed (born 4 February 2000) is a British- Pakistani racing driver. Ahmed currently competes in the Indy NXT with Cape Motorsports, having previously driven for RP Motorsport in the 2021 season. He previously raced in the 2020 FIA Form ...
, Ben Hingeley,
Álex Palou
Álex Palou Montalbo (; born 1 April 1997) is a Spanish racing driver who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series, where he won the 2021 series championship. He is the first Spanish racing driver to win a National Championship in ...
In 2019 the team was represented by
Jüri Vips
Jüri Vips (born 10 August 2000) is an Estonian professional racing driver, currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with Hitech Grand Prix. He is the 2017 ADAC Formula 4 champion, and formerly a member of the Red Bull Junior Team. ...
in the new
FIA Formula 3 Championship
The FIA Formula 3 Championship is a third-tier international single-seater racing championship and organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship launched in 2019 as a feeder series for the FIA Formula 1 W ...
.
He was joined by
Leonardo Pulcini
Leonardo Pulcini (born 25 June 1998, in Rome) is an Italian racing driver and the 2016 Euroformula Open champion.
Career
Karting
Born in Rome, Pulcini began karting professionally in 2012 and came second in the CIK-FIA KF Junior championship a ...
, who raced in the
GP3 Series
The GP3 Series, or GP3 for short, was a single-seater motor racing series launched in 2010 as a feeder series for the GP2 Series, introduced by GP2 organiser Bruno Michel. GP3 followed the entire European leg of the Formula One series and th ...
, and
2016 French F4 champion
Ye Yifei
Ye Yifei (; born 16 June 2000) is a Chinese racing driver, 2016 French F4 champion, 2020 Euroformula Open champion, 2021 Asian Le Mans Series champion, 2021 European Le Mans Series champion, and former member of the Renault Sport Academy. In ...
. The team saw four wins coming from Vips and Pulcini that ultimately resulted in the outfit finishing second behind
Prema Racing
Prema Powerteam (competing as Prema Racing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, the FIA Formula 3 Championship and European Le Mans Series and as Prema Orlen Team in the FIA World Endurance Championship) is a motorsport team from Italy. It mainly ...
in the teams' standings.
In 2019, Hitech GP provided a full race operation package to
W Series, including preparation, shipping and all trackside requirements. Hitech GP also supplied race engineers and pit crew for each of the cars. This partnership was discontinued for the
2021 season following the
2020 season's cancellation due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
and Hitech GP's subsequent expansion into other series.
FIA Motorsport Games
For the inaugural
2019 FIA Motorsport Games Formula 4 Cup all drivers utilized
KCMG KCMG may refer to
* KC Motorgroup, based in Hong Kong, China
* Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, British honour
* KCMG-LP, radio station in New Mexico, USA
* KCMG, callsign 1997-2001 of Los Angeles radio station KKLQ (FM) ...
KC MG-01 cars, which were operated by Hitech GP. This was the first Formula 4 car to feature
Halo safety device.
GP2 Series
In 2004, Hitech partnered with Piquet Sports to enter the
GP2 Series
The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Eccles ...
, running
Nelson Piquet Jr.
Nelson Angelo Tamsma Piquet Souto Maior (born July 25, 1985), also known as Nelson Piquet Junior or Nelsinho Piquet, is a Brazilian stock car racing driver and former Formula One and Formula E driver where he was champion in the 2014–15 seaso ...
and
Alexandre Negrao. However, prior to the
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
round, it was announced that this partnership had ended and that Piquet Sports would run the team for the remainder of the season.
Despite this, team would continue carrying the Hitech name until the end of the season
FIA Formula 2 Championship
In January 2020, Hitech announced it would expand into the championship for the
2020 season.
Current series results
FIA Formula 2 Championship
In detail
(
key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
* Season still in progress.
FIA Formula 3 Championship
In detail
(
key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
* Season still in progress.
F3 Asian Championship / Formula Regional Asian Championship
* Season still in progress.
† As Sasahara was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
BRDC British Formula 3 Championship / GB3 Championship
Formula 4 UAE Championship
F4 British Championship
Former series results
F3 Asian Winter Series
FIA European Formula 3 Championship
† As Sims was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
British Formula 3 International Series
Timeline
See also
*
Atech Grand Prix
Atech Grand Prix was a British motor racing team.
It was formed in 2007 as Hitech Junior Team by David Hayle, who had sold his successful British Formula 3 team Hitech Racing to Austrian businessman Walter Grubmuller, Sr.
It was renamed Atech ...
*
ART Grand Prix
ART Grand Prix is a French motor racing team that competes in formula single-seaters in Europe. In 2012, it competed in the GP2 Series and GP3 Series as Lotus GP to reflect sponsorship from British sports and racing car manufacturer Lotus. The ...
*
2019 W Series
The 2019 W Series was the inaugural motor racing season of the W Series, an all-female Formula 3-level racing series.
Driver selection
55 drivers were initially entered in a qualifying longlist for the 2019 season, with a further six added l ...
Footnotes
References
External links
*
{{Automotive industry in the United Kingdom
British auto racing teams
2002 establishments in the United Kingdom
British Formula Three teams
FIA Formula 3 Championship teams
FIA Formula 2 Championship teams
FIA Formula 3 European Championship teams
Formula 3 Euro Series teams
Auto racing teams established in 2002
Formula Regional teams