Armstrong celebrates a challenging single-seater debut

Christchurch-born race driver Marcus Armstrong, 16, has achieved all his goals in his single-seater debut at the daunting Nurburgring in Germany.

Competing in the penultimate round of the 2016 Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Championship on Saturday and Sunday with respected team R-ace GP, Armstrong was quickly on the pace and served notice of his speed in the final practice session. Formula Renault competes on the full Formula One circuit, and it was Armstrong’s first time driving that track format.

Slowed by a puncture in the first qualifying session, he was able to post 14th fastest in the field of 24. The second qualifying session went better, and Armstrong took seventh fastest to line up on the fourth row of the grid on Sunday.

“That puncture in qualifying made race one very difficult! I didn’t take any risks to overtaken drivers because from P14 it was best to take care of the car and the tyres.”

An epic battle with championship regular Henrique Chavez was a highlight of the closing laps, Armstrong overtaking cleanly on the final lap.

On Sunday, in heavy fog, Armstrong was the talk of pit lane when he carved through the field to finish fourth, just missing a podium placing.

“I knew we had the speed to compete for a podium, it was just a case of making the most of track position and overtaking cleanly. I’m really pleased with this first race weekend and I can’t wait to get back on track in Estoril for the Eurocup,” he said.

Marcus Armstrong is currently based in Oxford, England, as he pursues his motor racing career. He has been racing karts in Europe this year with the factory Tonykart team, competing against the best karters in the world in the hotly contested KZ class right up to European and World Championship level.
Karting is widely acknowledged as the best foundation for any driver with aspirations of reaching the highest level of motorsport.

Now, Armstrong is preparing to move up to full-sized single-seater categories. Contesting the late-season Formula Renault 2.0 rounds is part of that preparation programme for the young driver, who has his sights set on premier racing categories in coming years.

Mark Baker has been working in automotive PR and communications for more than two decades. For much longer than that he has been a motorsport journalist, photographer and competitor, witness to most of the most exciting and significant motorsport trends and events of the mid-late 20th Century. His earliest memories of motorsport were trips to races at Ohakea in the early 1960s, and later of annual summer pilgrimages to watch Shellsport racers and Mini 7s at Bay Park and winter sorties into forests around Kawerau and Rotorua to see the likes of Russell Brookes, Ari Vatanen and Mike Marshall ply their trade in group 4 Escorts. Together with Murray Taylor and TV producer/director Dave Hedge he has been responsible for helping to build New Zealand’s unique Toyota Racing Series into a globally recognized event brand under category managers Barrie and Louise Thomlinson. Now working for a variety of automotive and mainstream commercial clients, Mark has a unique perspective on recent motor racing history and the future career paths of our best and brightest young racers.

Related Stories

Join in the conversation!


Comments