Pål Varhaug (born 26 January 1991 in

Stavanger Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...

) is a former

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Career

Karting

Varhaug began his

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

career in karting in 2005, finishing fifth in the Norwegian Championship ICA Junior category. He also finished fourth in the Viking Trophy ICA Junior class. The following year he won the Norwegian Championship ICA Junior title.

Formula Renault 2.0

Varhaug moved up to single–seaters in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, competing in the Swiss Formula Renault 2.0 championship for

Jenzer Motorsport Jenzer Motorsport is an auto racing team based in Switzerland. Founded in 1993 by Andreas Jenzer the team is currently competing in FIA Formula 3, Italian F4 and F4 Spanish and has had a number of drivers who would turn out to be successful in ...

. Over the course of the season he took seven podium places, including four race wins, to finish as runner-up in the championship. He also took part in selected races in both the Italian Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 NEC championships. Varhaug continued with Jenzer Motorsport in the category for

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, racing full seasons in both the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Italian Formula Renault 2.0 series. He finished fifteenth in the Eurocup standings, with his best race result being a fifth place in the second event at

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...

. In the Italian series, he finished in the points in all fourteen races and took three races wins to comfortably win the title. At the end of the season, Varhaug took part in Formula Renault 3.5 Series testing at Paul Ricard with the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Prema Powerteam Prema Racing, previously known as Prema Powerteam, is an Italian motorsport team, owned and operated through the ''DC Racing Solutions'' parent company. Founded in 1983, the team is based in Grisignano di Zocco and currently operates out of Ita ...

, completing over one hundred laps in the process.

International Formula Master

For

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, Varhaug moved up to the International Formula Master series, once again staying with Jenzer Motorsport. He finished in fifth place in the standings, and was the runner–up in the

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

classification behind Alexander Rossi. He achieved five podium places and a

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

GP3 Series

Varhaug graduated to the new

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 the ...

with Jenzer Motorsport in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. After qualifying on the front row of the grid for the opening race of the season in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Varhaug became the first–ever GP3 race winner, finishing ahead of both Robert Wickens and Esteban Gutiérrez. He failed to score another point after his win and eventually finished 13th in the standings. Varhaug originally finished in third place in the feature race at Spa–Francorchamps, but was later demoted to 15th after overtaking the

safety car In motorsport, a safety car, or a pace car, is a car that limits the speed of competing cars or motorcycles on a racetrack in the case of a ''caution period,'' such as an obstruction on the track or bad weather. The safety car aims to enable the ...

. He also posted the fastest lap in the final race of the season in

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

, but was not rewarded with a championship point because he failed to finish inside the race's top ten positions. He returned to the series in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, again with Jenzer. He finished seventeenth in the standings overall.

GP2 Series

Varhaug graduated to 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 Ecc ...

for 2011, driving alongside Romain Grosjean in the

DAMS A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...

team. He finished thirteenth in the Asia series, which along his team-mate's overall victory, allowed DAMS to win the teams' championship. Whilst Grosjean also won the main series championship, Varhuag did not score any points and was classified 23rd overall.

Auto GP World Series

After losing his GP2 drive at DAMS, Varhaug moved to the Auto GP World Series with the Virtuosi UK team.

Racing record