Hartley given five-place grid penalty

British Formula 3 title chaser Brendon Hartley has been slapped with a five-place grid penalty on his F3 Euro Series return at Barcelona.

The Carlin Motorsport driver received a late call-up to the team's Euro Series squad after Richard Philippe defected to the rival SG Formula outfit.

But it's been a tough weekend for the New Zealander, who finds himself back in 25th on the grid after being judged to have blocked a rival car during qualifying.

"It's a bit frustrating given that I lost six or seven laps being blocked by another car," Hartley told autosport.com.

"I got the call from Carlin late on Monday afternoon, so it's a bit of a last-minute deal.

"It's been hard to get the best from the Kumho tyres over one lap, but I feel we've got good race pace when the tyres are worn. Carlin are obviously a very good team, so it's frustrating to find ourselves six tenths off the pace."

Hartley said he was unsure if he'd be taking part in the remaining Euro Series races at Le Mans and Hockenheim.

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