| HAMILTON
SIGNS UP FOR FORMULA FORD CAMPAIGN
25 February,
2008: One of Britain's brightest young single-seater hopefuls,
Matt Hamilton, has signed to contest the British Formula Ford
Championship in 2008 with Joe Tandy Racing.
Matt, who has just
turned 18, will team up with French star Philippe Layac and Dutch
driver Rogier de Wit at JTR; all three will drive 2008 chassis
from Mygale, the French manufacturer whose products have won the
Ford-backed championship for the last three years in succession.
"I am really
excited to be joining one of the top teams," said Matt, whose
2007 campaign in Formula Palmer Audi was blighted by a serious
early season crash which left him with a broken leg. "JTR has
a proven record and British Formula Ford is a real step forward
for me in terms of competitiveness and prestige. It's also a great
shop window for Formula 3, which is where I want to be in the
future."
Joe Tandy believes
Matt's addition to the JTR driving strength will make his team one
of the strongest on the grid: "Matt was a race winner in
Formula Palmer Audi, Philippe is quick and has a year's experience
of British Formula Ford under his belt, and Rogier is a karting
prodigy. I think we can be challenging for race wins from the
start of the season."
Matt's father and
manager, Steve Hamilton, says his son is raring to go: "He is
now fully recovered from the leg injury and champing at the bit.
He has already tested for JTR and had no difficulty in running
below lap record pace, so we are excited for his prospects."
Hamilton's track
career started in 1999, at the age of nine, in cadet karts. He was
the Formula BMW Scholarship winner in 2005 and enjoyed a full
season in the single-seater series in '06.
All three of JTR's
signings will be shaking down their new Mygales this week at the
start of an extensive pre-season test programme. The
championship's opening rounds are at Oulton Park over the Easter
weekend (22-24 March). |
