Fortec Motorsport

**Fortec Motorsport Ltd.** is a motor-racing team that races in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, the British Formula 3 Championship, and several junior formulae categories at a British and pan-European level. In 2009, Daniel McKenzie was the first driver to win a British Fornula Three Championship whilst driving for this team, taking the title in B-Class. Beforehand, the closest any driver has come is third place, which came on four occasions prior to McKenzie's victory.

## History of British Formula Three

### 1992 (Burt)

The team made their debut, with Kelvin Burt. The Englishman scored two wins during the year and set two fastest laps, allowing him to be third place in the championship by season's end.

### 1993 (Riberto, Rees)

This year's drivers were Andre Ribeiro and Gareth Rees. From Round 11, Ribeiro switched to a Dallara chassis. Despite failing to win any races this year, Ribeiro finished fifth with three podiums, whilst Rees couldn't finish any higher than fourth.

### 1994 (Dufour, Horner)

Another year, another pair of drivers. Those two title aspirations were Jeremie Dufour and Christian Horner (future founder of Red Bull Racing). After two rounds, Dufour changed his car number to 42. His performance mirrored that of Ribeiro's last year, with a handful of podium finishes.

### 1995 (Salles, Xavier, Horion, Spence, Davies)

The new drivers at the beginning of the season were Gualter Salles, Roberto Xavier and Geoffrey Horion. A dismal performance from Xavier led to him being replaced after just four races by Jamie Spence and later, Jamie Davies. On the other hand, Salles actually won the race at Silverstone, along with other podiums which saw him finish in 7th place, whilst Horion had a couple of points finishes this year.

### 1996 (Smith, Montoya)

Driving for the team this year were Guy Smith and Juan Pablo Montoya. For the first time in their championship history, both their drivers had race wins this year, with Montoya winning two races to Smith's one.

### 1997 (Smith, Collins)

Brian Smith (of no relation to Guy), and Ben Collins were Fortec's new drivers for the 1997 season. Smith won the first of the double header at Pembrey, and was seventh in the championship, whilst Collins placed behind his team-mate in seventh.

### 1998 (Kolby, Pavicevic)

Kristian Kolby and Andrej Pavicevic were the team's two new drivers for 1998. Despite consistent points finish, their only podium came courtesy of Kolby at the final race of the season in Silverstone.

### 1999 (Kolby, Davies)

Their drivers this year were Kristian Kolby and Matthew Davies, with Kolby retaining his seat from last year. After the podium finish at last year's finale, Kolby went one better, and gave the team their first and only win of the year at Pembrey.

### 2000 (Bruni, Bentwood)

The two men tasked with delivering Fortec a championship trophy were Gianmaria Bruni and Michael Bentwood. Bruni delivered respectable points finishes, in addition to a few podium finishes, to finish fifth in the championship. Not to mention that Bentwood also finished on the podium a few times as well.

### 2001 (Bruni, Gurney)

Bruni retained his seat at Fortec while the second seat went to American Alex Gurney, son of racing legend Dan Gurney. Bruni won his first race at Donington, and in a recurrence of the previous year, finished fifth in the championship. Gurney had a good season, with occasional points finishes.

### 2002 (Kovalainen, Carbone)

Fortec saw success in more ways than one during the 2002 season. Their second driver, Fabio Carbone won the Masters of Formula Three in August, delivering the team their first-ever win at the event. Heikki Kovalainen, in a similar fashion to his team-mate, won five races during the year, and finished in third place in the Championship, the best placing for a Fortec driver since Burt in 1992.

### 2003 (Dahlgren, Power)

In yet another reshuffle, the team started the season with just one driver, Robert Dahlgren, who won the race at Thruxton. Aussie driver Will Power joined the team in June at Castle Combe, and also finished on the podium.

### 2004 (Rossiter, O'Mahony, Marshall)

James Rossiter and Marcus Marshall were Fortec's drivers for most of the season, with Marshall replacing Ronayne O'Mahony after just one round. Marshall took an upset win at Silverstone in August, defeating many of the more experienced drivers, but Rossiter took third in the championship anyway, with a string of better results.

### 2005 (Walker, O'Mahony, Conway, Buurman)

James Walker, Ronayne O'Mahony and Mike Conway started this season. Conway won one race, whilst O'Mahony appeared in most of the season, before he was replaced by Yelmer Buurman for the season finale, whilst Walker won at Nurburgring. The best performance came, unsurprisingly, from Conway, who finished third in the Championship.

### 2006 (Buurman, Hall, Hollings)

In 2006, Buurman got a full-time seat, and spent much of the season as the team's only driver. Despite this, he showed his potential with two race wins, which culminated in 4th place at the end of the year.

### 2007 (Hohenthal, G. Mansell, L. Mansell)

After Buurman went to Formula 3.5 to drive for the team there, their British Formula 3 grid in the meantime was Swedish driver Sebastien Hohenthal, and British brothers Greg and Leo Mansell, the sons of Formula One World Champion Nigel Mansell. In Brands Hatch, Hohenthal took a shock win, beating the likes of eventual title winner Marko Asmer, and the runner up, Maro Engel. By the conclusion of the season, Hohenthal had cemented his status as a formiddable driver, with a slew of points finishes and podiums throughout the year. Whilst Greg managed an equally good season, also with regular podium placings, his brother Leo could only score two points the whole year.