Brendon
Hartley still can’t quite believe where he is. Having made the switch to
sportscars after his single-seater career stalled in 2012, just two years later
the 24 year old finds himself in a factory seat at Porsche alongside 2010 Le
Mans 24 Hours winner Timo Bernhard and a 9-times Grand Prix winner in the shape
of Mark Webber.
The
Kiwi is very modest about his achievements, but it doesn’t take much digging to
see why Porsche hired him to fly the flag at their Le Mans homecoming for the
first time since 1998.
Hartley
made an instant impact at Murphy Prototypes, with a podium finish on debut at
Spa and again at Donington before combining an ELMS schedule with appearances
in Grand-Am for Peter Baron’s Starworks team in 2013, where he was cruelly
denied a win at COTA before putting those demons to bed with a stylish victory
at Road America.
Back in Europe, bad luck was never far away; leading
comfortably before being caught out in the monsoon conditions at Silverstone
and producing the ten fastest laps of the race at the Red Bull Ring after
starter motor problems had ruled them out of contention, before eventually taking
the team’s first win at the Paul Ricard season finale – that despite losing his
front-right brakes...
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| Hartley was ended his Murphy career on a high note with a win at Paul Ricard. (Credit: Murphy Prototypes) |
“Obviously I’m
very proud of what I’ve done over the last few years and I guess part of that
is why I’m sitting here. But I’ve been so fortunate with how it played out,
meeting the right people and having the right support, people like Murphy
Prototypes who believed in me and gave me the opportunities – and also in
America with Starworks – so it’s been great," says Hartley.
“In a lot of
ways I’m still very surprised that [Porsche] picked me, there’s obviously a
massive pool of drivers who had their hands up to take the seat, and a lot of
fantastic drivers as well. So obviously it’s a huge deal for me and I’m very
proud that I managed to get here. When I got the phone call it was just a wave
of relief and excitement at the same time.”
The switch from
the almost family-like atmosphere of the Murphy team to the massive organisation
from Stuttgart is not one to be taken lightly, particularly as Hartley joined the
project slightly later on in the developmental phase. Ever the professional,
Hartley refuses to get carried away, but even he can’t conceal his excitement
at getting the chance to compete for the FIA World Endurance Championship,
which got off to a promising start with a podium at Silverstone and of course,
outright honours at Le Mans.
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| A lot of eyes will be on the no. 20 this year. (Credit: WEC Media) |
“It’s a big
change, I’m still sometimes pinching myself at seeing my face up there as a
Porsche driver,” he admits. “It feels very special to be a part of Porsche,
there’s so much history here in endurance racing and sportscar racing at Le
Mans but it’s starting to become a reality.
“Everyone has
worked so hard over the past year and a half to get the car to where it is now
and we still have work to do, which is the exciting thing. We can see there’s a
lot of potential and there’s much more to come; every day we drive it we’re
constantly improving. When we have a debrief, even if it’s just a small part,
the next time you come back its something different, so there’s a real development
in progress. That’s just the dream as a racing driver to develop the race car
and new technologies that be on future road cars as well.
“We definitely
have a great top speed, which I think all the drivers down the pit-lane are
going to tell you, so that clearly looks very promising for Le Mans, the guys
working on the drivetrain have done an amazing job. The interesting thing is there’s
a certain amount of fuel, a certain amount of energy we’re allowed, and all the
teams have a different strategy as to how we get the best lap-times and in the
end we were all four tenths apart between the six cars in qualifying.
The throngs of passionate
fans waiting patiently outside the hospitality zone attest to the enormous
popularity of the paddocks newest face. ‘The Webber effect’ brought massive
crowds to Silverstone, and has introduced a new audience of Formula One fans to
endurance racing. If he wasn’t already under the spotlight, Hartley certainly
is now.
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| Hartley, along with Bernhard (left) and Webber (centre) made the podium on the 919's debut at Silverstone. (Credit: WEC Media) |
“It’s amazing to
see all the people waiting for autographs; I can’t help thinking that most of
them are for Mark but I’ll still be asked to do the odd one,” he grins. “It’s
great to see so much support already, and Mark brings a lot of fans over and a
lot of experience from Formula One as well, so there’s a lot I can learn from
him and hopefully I can teach him a trick or two along the way. We’re
all doing a good job, we’re all learning off each other I like to think, but
I’m very lucky to have such experienced and talented team-mates.”
It’s easy to
forget that Hartley is only in his third year of sportscar racing and still has
a lot of years ahead of him. But to his credit, his feet are firmly planted and
his humble attitude shows no sign of changing.
“Honestly I don’t
tend to think too far ahead. I’m just focused on trying to do a good job this
year, keep driving the car as fast as I can, like I always do and then hopefully
everything works out.”
And with it all to
play for at La Sarthe, you wouldn’t bet against him either.
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