Fortec Motorsport will field a four driver line-up in the Protyre Formula Renault Championship ‘Autumn Cup’ it is confirmed today, Friday, 18th October, with McLaren-backed multiple karting champion Ben Barnicoat (Chesterfield) set to make his car racing debut with the Daventry squad.
The 16-year-old, who has been part of the McLaren Young Driver Development Programme since 2010 and is also supported by the Racing Steps Foundation, is widely regarded as one of the UK’s premier motor racing talents and in recent years has won a glittering array of karting titles – not least the 2012 CIK-FIA KF2 European Karting title and the 2010 MSA KF3 Formula Kart Stars crown.
By making his ‘slicks and wings’ bow in the ranks of Formula Renault at Rockingham International Super Sportscar Circuit on 16th/17th November, Barnicoat will notably follow in the wheel tracks of 2008 FIA Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton.
Backed by McLaren throughout his formative career, Hamilton also made the move into cars at the Northamptonshire track back in 2001 in the Formula Renault UK Winter Series with the Manor Motorsport squad.
Joining debutant Barnicoat at Fortec will be the retuning Hongwei ‘Martin’ Cao (Stoke-on-Trent), the Chinese driver likely to lead the team’s attack after an excellent season in the main Protyre Formula Renault Championship this year.
Securing his maiden category race victory during round 14, at Rockingham incidentally, Cao raced to four other podiums over the course of the year and ended the campaign a highly impressive fourth overall – a mere 11 points shy of the coveted championship top three. The 20-year-old also qualified on pole position on two occasions and will certainly begin the Autumn Cup as a true title contender.
Croatian 16-year-old Martin Kodric will make the step-up to single-seater competition for the first time, having enjoyed a highly successful karting career in Europe. Winning his first title in 2008 in the Croatian Comer Cadet Championship, the Zagreb-born racer went on to claim the 2010 Italian Rotax Max Junior Challenge crown and won the prestigious Trofeo Andrea Margutti in 2012.
Yosuke Yamazaki, the 2012 Asian Formula Renault 2.0 Champion, completes Fortec’s international line-up for the Autumn Cup. The 22-year-old from Japan, who also claimed the Super FJ single-seater title in 2011, will make his UK racing debut at Rockingham.
“The Autumn Cup is a great extra addition to have at the end of such a competitive season, giving the rookies their first races and an opportunity to develop as a driver and, more importantly, develop their racecraft skills”, said Fortec team manager Daniel Mitchell, “Having Cao back once again is great news, not only has he developed into a race winning driver this year but also as a leader.
“Both Ben and Martin Kodric have both shown promising pace in the little testing they have done to date, we're looking forward to seeing how they improve. Yosuke is an exciting prospect, he is a proven race winner in the Chinese Formula Renault series so we can’t wait to see how he gets on.”
Along with headline sponsor Protyre, Formula Renault is additionally supported by Michelin, The Lubricant Consultancy, Petronas Syntium and NGK Spark Plugs.
