Pepe Martí

Josep Maria "Pepe" Martí Sobrepera (, ; born 13 June 2005) is a Spanish racing driver, who competes in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for Campos Racing as part of the Red Bull Junior Team.

A member of the Red Bull Junior Team since 2023, he most recently competed in the FIA Formula 3 championship for Campos, finishing fifth in the standings with three wins. He is a race winner in the UAE and Spanish Formula 4 championships, having placed third in the latter, as well as the 2022 Formula Regional Asian Championship runner-up.

Career

Karting

Martí started karting competitively in late 2016 at the age of eleven. In 2018 he was signed by Tony Kart, and the following year he won the Spanish Karting Championship in the Junior category, driving for Fernando Alonso's team. He then went on to finish 7th in the OK class of the CIK-FIA Karting World Championship in 2020, his last year of karting, with Kart Republic.

Formula 4

Martí made his single-seater debut in January 2021, driving for Xcel Motorsport in the Formula 4 UAE Championship. He experienced a difficult debut, but was able to take his first podium during the second race in Yas Marina. After a second place in Dubai, he would then take his first single-seater victory during the second Yas Marina round. With one win and four podiums, Martí came seventh in the standings, 184 points behind champion Enzo Trulli.

For the main season, he competed in Spanish F4 with Campos Racing, as the Valencian team made its debut in the championship. Martí began with a podium during the opening Spa-Francorchamps round. However, he had to wait until the fourth round at the MotorLand Aragón to taste his first wins, in which he secured a double victory. Despite not winning any more races, Martí attained four more podiums in the remaining three rounds whilst being in a fight for runner-up spot with teammate Sebastian Øgaard; as he ultimately finished third in the standings with two wins and nine podiums.

Formula Regional

2022

Martí started 2022 racing in the rebranded Formula Regional Asian Championship for Irish-Filipino team Pinnacle Motorsport, alongside Formula 4 rival Dilano van 't Hoff. Martí had a terrible start to the season with two retirements, but following that, he manage to notch five podiums and score consistently. Due to this, he finished the season with 158 points to claim second place in the overall standings, while also winning the rookie cup.

2023

During 2023 pre-season, Martí returned to the 2023 Formula Regional Middle East Championship with Pinnacle Van Amersfoort Racing. He had a decent start to the season with consistent points, before not partaking in the third round in Kuwait Motor Town. He then ended the season with two wins, placing him seventh in the standings with 79 points and was the highest driver to have missed one round.

FIA Formula 3 Championship

2022

After testing for the team in 2021 post-season, Martí made the step up to the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2022 with Campos Racing. Martí had a disappointing season, but had a promising debut with a drive from 20th to 13th in the feature race. In the Imola feature race, he made a strategy gamble to stay on the wets on a drying track, and led the race for a number of laps before pitting for slicks. He finished the race in 15th. He scored his first points finish in the final round at Monza in the sprint race, where he finished ninth after starting third. He ended the season 26th in the standings with 2 points, ahead of teammate Hunter Yeany but far from other teammate and fellow countryman David Vidales. At the end of the season, Martí took part in the post-season test, remaining with Campos.

2023

Martí continued with Campos Racing for the 2023 Formula 3 season alongside Christian Mansell and Hugh Barter. He started the season in the best fashion during the sprint race as from second, he overcame Franco Colapinto for the lead before proceeding to take his first F3 victory. In the feature race, he moved up to sixth place in an impressive showing. In Melbourne, a crash in qualifying hampered his hopes for the races, but he managed to make impressive recoveries during the races, finishing 13th in the sprint and securing points in the feature with seventh place. Qualifying on reverse pole in Monaco, Martí handled things perfectly in the sprint race, as he secured a lights-to-flag victory by eight seconds; his second of the year. He finished ninth in the feature race.

Martí then sailed to his first pole in his home Barcelona round. After a solid eighth in the sprint race, Martí proceeded to dominate the feature race and claim a home victory by four seconds, moving him to second in the standings. Starting on reverse pole for Austria, Martí controlled the majority of the sprint race, but a late safety car led to him struggling after that; he rapidly dropped to sixth during the last three laps. A difficult feature race followed as his finished behind both his teammates in ninth place. Martí qualified third in Silverstone. Despite being a pit stop mid-race to fit wet tyres, in which in proved to be the eventual wrong choice, Martí managed to fend off a faster Alex García for tenth. He returned to the podium with third place in a damp feature race.

Starting 13th for both races in Hungary, Martí was spun aroundin the latter stages of the race by Nikola Tsolov and he dropped to 20th. In the feature race, he starred in an overtake masterclass as he improved to sixth place. Martí cruised to his second pole position in Spa-Francorchamps. His sprint race was cut short as he was tagged into a spin by Gabriele Minì, and Martì would later collide into Ido Cohen as he re-joined, putting both out of the race. In the feature race, he made a wrong gamble on slick tyres on a damp track, as he slipped to ninth at the flag. Martí had a torrid end to the season in Monza with a double retirement, due to incidents out of his control. Despite that, Martí finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship with three wins, two poles, four podiums and 105 points.

2023 Macau Grand Prix

Martí also competed in the Macau Grand Prix with Campos. He ended his debut Macau race in fifth position, the highest Campos driver.

FIA Formula 2 Championship

2024

Martí graduated to Formula 2 for his 2024 campaign, continuing his relationship with Campos Racing alongside fellow Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar. He qualified 11th for the opening Bahrain round but starred in the sprint race, overtaking car after car to reach third place and secure a debut podium. He was even more impressive in the feature race with second place, becoming the third driver in the category to debut with a double podium. Qualifying 11th again in Jeddah, but in the sprint race he manage to progress to seventh place having forced an error on Kush Maini on the final lap. Unfortunately, Martí spun on the opening lap of the feature race and was forced to retire. Despite qualifying in the top 10 for the first in Melbourne, he had a forgettable weekend, being involved in a collision at the start of the sprint race and contact with Oliver Bearman in the feature race dropped him out of the points.

Martí would then have to wait until his home Barcelona feature race to score points again, in which he finished in ninth. After qualifying eighth in Austria, he vaulted to second early on in the sprint race, and despite pressure on leader Bearman, Martí did take his first podium since Bahrain. In the feature race, an early pit stop under the virtual safety car meant he assumed the virtual lead after the pit stops, but dropped to fourth at the end on ageing tyres; which included a heated tension with teammate Hadjar. Later, he was later penalised down to 15th due to his illegal pitstop under the VSC. Martí then returned to the points in the Silverstone feature race with tenth place, having once again being in an unavoidable incident in the sprint race. He had a disastrous weekend in Spa-Francorchamps with a double DNF, most notably being in another first-lap accident, this time with Bearman.

Martí qualified seventh in Monza and scrapped for the top places in the sprint, but eventually finished in fourth. In the feature race, he received a ten-second penalty for taking out Paul Aron at the start, which compromised his race and was left to finish in 12th place. He was involved in a scary crash during the Baku feature race after he piled into a stalled Kush Maini, causing Martí's car to flip upside down. In the Yas Marina season finale, Martí earned his big break as he shot up to the lead from sprint at the start of the sprint race. He proceeded to control the remainder of the race, taking his first F2 victory in fashion. Running the alternate strategy in the feature race, he concluded his successful weekend in sixth place.

Martí finished his rookie season 14th in the drivers' standings with one win, four podiums and 62 points.

2025

Martí continued with Campos Racing for the 2025 season, alongside his fellow Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad. Aiming to "fight at the front", he qualified a disappointing 12th in the Melbourne opener, but made improvements in the sprint race to take eighth. Martí qualified 11th again in Bahrain, and stormed through the pack in the sprint race, overtaking Joshua Dürksen to take his first win of the season. Another explosive lap in the feature race launched him into fifth, and eventually barely missed out on a podium to Leonardo Fornaroli by four tenths at the chequered flag. In Jeddah, Martí battled intensely with Richard Verschoor for the lead, but a mistake mid-race saw him drop to third behind teammate Lindblad. Despite that, Martí was promoted to second place following a penalty for Verschoor. He finished the feature race in fifth place, allowing him to move up to second in the championship.

Formula One

In September 2022, Martí was announced to join two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso's management team, A14 Management. In August 2023, he entered the Red Bull Junior Team.

Other racing

Sportscar racing

Martí made his sportscar and prototype debut at the 2022 Historic Zandvoort Grand Prix competing in the Masters Endurance Legends, organised by Masters Historic Racing, in a Duqueine-run Norma M30. He won both races in his G2/P3 class and finished on the overall podium against higher class machinery in race 1.

Karting record

Karting career summary

Complete CIK-FIA Karting European Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Racing record

Racing career summary

Season still in progress.

Complete Formula 4 UAE Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete F4 Spanish Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Regional Asian/Middle East Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Complete Macau Grand Prix results

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate points for the fastest lap of the top-10 finishers)

Season still in progress.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Martí, Pepe
Living people
2005 births
Spanish racing drivers
Spanish F4 Championship drivers
FIA Formula 3 Championship drivers
Campos Racing drivers
Pinnacle Motorsport drivers
Formula Regional Asian Championship drivers
Karting World Championship drivers
Van Amersfoort Racing drivers
UAE F4 Championship drivers
Formula Regional Middle East Championship drivers
Catalan racing drivers
Racing drivers from Barcelona
FIA Formula 2 Championship drivers
21st-century Spanish sportsmen