BRDC British F3 race winner, Sasakorn Chaimongkol, has finalised a deal with Hillspeed to remain with the team for the delayed 2020 season.
The 20-year-old Thai driver, currently residing in Nottingham, won his first race in the championship with the Markham Vale based team at Silverstone last year. Hillspeed have been working closely with Chaimongkol to secure the budget to return to British F3 for the 2020 season. Chaimongkol can now look forward to his third full season in car racing thanks to the backing of the long-term sponsors MAXIMA Motorsport, MAXIMA Motor Oil and Chiratec.
Chaimongkol made his BRDC British F3 debut with Hillspeed in 2018, concluding his maiden campaign as the top ‘Rookie’ driver, finishing his debut season taking two podium positions along the way and finishing in ninth place overall. He returned to the team last year and concluded his second season in eighth place, whilst gathering another top three finish at Donington Park and achieved the Sunoco ‘fastest driver of the weekend’ at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
Due to the recent Coronavirus outbreak, Chaimongkol hasn’t managed to climb behind the wheel of a race car since the end of the 2019 season after having budget restrictions which resulted in a distinct lack of testing. His first run in the upgraded and re-profiled Tatuus BF3-020 car will be in the practice session before the opening event at Oulton Park on 1-2 August, meaning the driver will have significantly less running than the other competitors.
Chaimongkol commented, “It’s great to come back to British F3 and work with Hillspeed again, we’ve established a fantastic relationship over the last few years and we’ve proved last year we can win in this championship. I’m very grateful to everyone who has been working so hard to make this deal happen, not least my manager John Kirkpatrick and Richard and Morgan (Ollerenshaw) at the team”.
“Even though we’ll be going into the new season on the backfoot compared everyone else who has had the budget to go testing, I know we can hit the ground running and mount a really strong challenge. I’m proud to be representing Thailand again in British F3, my ultimate goal is to be the first Thai-born driver in Formula One since Prince Bira. Winning British F3 would be a perfect start.”
Richard Ollerenshaw, Hillspeed Team Principal, commented, “We’re absolutely delighted cutter is back with us for the new season. It’s been a long slog to get the budget together, and if it wasn’t for Cutter’s long term sponsor MAXIMA Oils, he would have been spending 2020 on the sidelines which would have been a travesty”.
“It’s unfortunate he hasn’t been able to test, but we know what he’s capable of and we’re all aiming for big things this season. We’re making a real push now to fill our third seat, it’d be fantastic to complete a capacity line-up and we’d be delighted to speak to anyone looking for a cost effective drive in the UK’s top single- seater championship – whether for the full season or selected rounds”.
Chaimongkol will race alongside Hillspeed’s other young British driver Oliver Clarke, with the team still working hard to fill the third seat before the opening four races of the rescheduled season at Oulton Park at the beginning of August.
