Friday, September 26, 2008

Magnussen Jr eyes F3 campaign

Kevin Magnussen, the son of former grand prix driver Jan, is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his father by racing in the British Formula 3 championship next season.

Magnussen Sr won the 1994 British F3 title, winning 14 of 18 races, and made his Formula 1 debut the following season with McLaren. He set the record for the most number of British F3 wins (since broken by Takuma Sato in 2001 with 16) and still holds the record for the most wins in a season.

His 15-year-old son has dominated the Danish Formula Ford Championship this year, in his first full season of racing, and is eyeing a graduation to British F3 next season after testing one of champion team Carlin Motorsport's National Class Dallara Mugen-Hondas at Pembrey last week.

Kevin impressed Carlin with his performance and hopes to raise the budget to race for them in 2008.

"I had a good feeling with the car, the brakes, the downforce, everything," Magnussen told this week's Autosport magazine. "It was very good to drive, I enjoyed it a lot, and the team were very nice to work with too. I was able to do times that were very good, or I think so at least.

"If we want to do anything next year, we want to do British F3 with Carlin. Of course it will depend on the money, but this is what we want."

Magnussen admitted that family history in the series is an attraction, but isn't expecting to break Jan's records.

"For sure, my dad's record in the series is encouraging for me. But he says he wants me to do the same as he did! That's a lot of wins, I don't know if I can get that many. I will just try to do my best."

Carlin Motorsport team boss Trevor Carlin was encouraged by Magnussen's performance last week and believes he could be a potential winner.

"His performance was quite amazing actually," said Carlin. "Given his age and experience, the ability level that he's starting at is very impressive. His times were good, but more importantly his lines were perfect and he didn't make a mistake all day, he covered a lot of laps.

"He's a chip off the old block in every respect. He's intelligent, has a professional attitude, and if he's this good at 15, you can only imagine how mega he could be by the time he's 18."



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