MARTIN SHOOTING FOR SUPERLEAGUE FORMULA PREMIERSHIP
John Martin is adamant he will be a championship contender in Superleague Formula in 2010.
After finishing 10th in the standings in his rookie season last year, the 25-year-old Queenslander has set his sights on the series winner’s €1million prize (which is part of a series prize pool totalling €5million) and the accompanying Formula One test drive.
“Building upon the foundation we laid last year at Alan Docking Racing and concentrating our efforts on the championship I believe 2010 promises to be an excellent year,” explained Martin.
“I have an excellent working relationship with the team at Alan Docking Racing, which began with my British Formula 3 debut in 2007, in particular the rapport I have with my engineer David Leach and my number one mechanic Roy Hingston was pivotal to the success we enjoyed in 2009.”
That success included a €100,000 to win Super Final victory at Donington Park, podiums in Race One at Donington and Zolder, qualifying on the front row of the grid at the Belgian venue and a further three top five qualifications in the six-round season.
This year sees Superleague Formula expand to 12 rounds, with the venue of one event to be advised. It is a thrilling prospect for Martin who last year also raced the seven round A1GP series and had four guest drives in the World Series by Renault.
“Anyone that knows me knows that I love racing,” said Martin. “So to get to drive these awesome 750 horsepower cars twice as often in 2010 is like a dream come true.”
“Of the 12 rounds this year there are only three circuits I have never raced at; Assen, Oscherleben and Jerez.”
“Five of the circuits hosted Superleague Formula last year, so I am familiar with what the car is like around them and then I have raced Formula Ford, Formula 3, A1GP or World Series by Renault at Silverstone, Nurburgring and Brands Hatch.”
“Silverstone and Brands Hatch are favourite tracks of mine and I always seem to go well at those two; I set the fastest lap in the last ever A1GP race at Brands so it is great to see them join the calendar. Magny Cours was a tough weekend; I qualified fifth in my Superleague Formula debut and was leading Race 2 when I pitted but we had a problem at the stop.”
“Zolder was kind to me last year, I qualified second on the grid in only my second ever event and finished second in Race 1.”
“Estoril was a great venue and another fifth on the grid. The crowd at Jarama was incredible, the Spaniards really got behind the event and I enjoyed the challenge of racing there. Jarama is an old school circuit like Brands Hatch with not a lot of room for error.”
“I can’t wait to get back in the car again. While the European drivers have been forced to train indoors because of the snow I’ve been training hard in Australia ready to hit the ground running at Silverstone on April 3-4.”
