27 March 2024

Eighteen-year-old Australian racing driver Patrick Heuzenroeder today announces that he is to be supported in his 2024 campaign by former Formula 1 driver, multiple 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and multiple 12 Hours of Sebring winner, David Brabham, and by the highly regarded UK F1 comms and PR expert, Matt Bishop, Managing Director of Diagonal Comms.

Brabham Group is pleased to sign the young driver under the Group’s mentoring programme for the 2024 season. David Brabham will be working with Patrick Heuzenroeder over the course of the year to develop and guide him in becoming an elite driver as he participates in the 2024 GB3 Championship season and pursues the path towards F1. David has more than 30 years of racing experience and brings a wealth of knowledge and insight both on and off the track, which will give Patrick a solid foundation for a professional career in motorsport. David is, of course, a fellow Australian and the son of three-time F1 world champion and all-time-great Australian motor racing legend, Sir Jack Brabham. David was also Team Director for Motorsport UK’s British Elite Driver Programme (Team UK) for six years.

Diagonal Comms, the communications, PR, media, content and digital marketing agency founded by the experienced F1 and motorsport comms chief, Matt Bishop, will also advise and work with Patrick throughout the 2024 GB3 Championship season to develop his media and online presence. Diagonal Comms’ turn-key communications/PR and digital/social media engagement with Patrick will include media outreach, media training, social media management, content creation and digital marketing.

Patrick has enjoyed a meteoric rise since embarking on his motorsport career aged 13 following a chance visit to a karting circuit in Sydney. After racing karts in his homeland for the next three years, he progressed to cars when he competed in the 2022 NSW (New South Wales) Formula Ford Championship. Despite lying an excellent third in the championship standings with the season still in progress, Patrick took the brave decision to depart for the UK in pursuit of his dream of one day reaching F1.

Patrick’s talent was recognised by Ferrari in their 2022 Driver Academy Asia Pacific selection programme, in which he progressed to the final six from an initial line-up of 23 of the most talented young drivers in Asia, Oceania, and Australasia. Narrowly missing out on progressing to the world final in Italy only increased Patrick’s determination to pursue a career in single-seaters.

Aged just 16, Patrick made the 10,000-mile trip from his native Australia to the UK – to dedicate himself entirely to motorsport. After a rigorous winter testing programme, he joined the FIA Global Pathway with Argenti’s British Formula 4 team for 2023. Racing in one of the most competitive British F4 fields ever, Patrick developed quickly and impressed sufficiently in his rookie year to go on to take part in the final two rounds of the Formula 3 level GB3 Championship – the UK’s leading single-seater championship. Following a successful GB3 winter testing programme in which he showed impressive pace, Patrick has secured a full seat with reigning GB3 Teams’ championship winners JHR Developments for the 2024 GB3 Championship season, which starts at the historic and challenging Oulton Park circuit on 30 March 2024.

Patrick Heuzenroeder said:
“I am incredibly excited to be working with an Aussie racing legend of the stature of David Brabham. He is part of one of the world’s greatest motorsport dynasties, the Brabham family, and I am very fortunate to have him as my mentor. I intend to learn as much from him as I can, as fast as possible. I am also thrilled to be working with Matt Bishop and his team at Diagonal Comms. Their skills and experience can help raise my profile and create new opportunities that will take me to where I want to be. My ultimate goal is Formula 1, and I am determined to chase and realise that dream.

“My motto is ‘purpose, commitment, and resilience’, and those are all qualities that I have shown since I left my home in Australia at the age of 16 and travelled 10,000 miles to the UK to pursue a career at the highest level of motorsport. I have sacrificed everything to be here, I am obsessed with racing, and I am totally focused on improving every day so as to achieve my goals.

“I am looking forward to taking the next step this season in the GB3 Championship – a highly competitive eight-round series that races on some of the world’s most famous circuits. I will be up against some of the most talented young drivers on the planet, and you can be sure that one of us will go on to make it to F1. I am working tirelessly – both in the car and out of it – every day to make sure that it is me.”

David Brabham said:
“I very much look forward to working with Patrick Heuzenroeder over the course of the year as he competes in the very competitive British GB3 Championship. I know that the path to Formula 1 will be a challenging one, but Patrick has speed and a great attitude, and he wants to learn. He has all the attributes needed to succeed in motorsport.

“I am looking forward to sharing my experience with him, opening up my network, and supporting him at tests and races, to get him to F1. In addition, I have known Matt Bishop for many years, and I am delighted that Patrick will be working with Matt and his Diagonal Comms team.

“Patrick is an ambitious and driven young man and I would encourage everyone to get behind him, not only in Australia but also elsewhere. I look forward to supporting and mentoring him in 2024 and beyond.”

Matt Bishop (Managing Director, Diagonal Comms) said:
“I have worked with many excellent drivers in my motorsport career, including four Formula 1 world champions [Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, and Sebastian Vettel], and one of the aspects of that work that I have always enjoyed most is identifying young talents and helping them develop and thrive. When I was McLaren’s Comms Director [2008-2017] I was very involved in the team’s young driver development programme, working closely with gifted young drivers such as Kevin Magnussen, Stoffel Vandoorne, and Nyck de Vries, all of whom made it to F1.

“I am therefore absolutely delighted that Diagonal Comms will be working with a very exciting young talent, Patrick Heuzenroeder, from Australia. Patrick is only 18 but already we can say that we think he has what it takes to reach the highest level. Together with his mentor David Brabham, whom I have known for many years and whom I hold in very high regard, we will do our utmost to try to make sure he does just that.”

January 23, 2024

Teenage Australian racing driver, Pat Heuzenroeder, has been invited to race in 2024 in the UK’s leading single seater championship with the title holding team, JHR Developments

JHR Developments is extremely happy to announce that young Australian racing driver, Patrick Heuzenroeder, will be joining the team in 2024, as he enters his first full season in the British GB3 Championship.

The GB3 Championship is the UK’s highest level single seater championship, comprising 24 races over eight rounds, including at four legendary Formula 1 circuits across Europe: Silverstone, Hungaroring, Spa-Francorchamps and Zandvoort. The GB3 Championship is a pathway to FIA® Formula 3 which races alongside Formula 1 at the Melbourne Grand Prix.

The Sydney teenager started in motorsport at the age of 13, after a chance visit to the Eastern Creek kart track sparked an interest in karting. Graduating to cars, he took part in the 2022 Ferrari Driver Academy Asia Pacific selection trials against some of the best young drivers in the region, making it to the final, and only narrowly missing out on the shootout in Italy. Taking part in the New South Wales Formula Ford Championship in his first season out of karting, Patrick was third in the standings before he took the bold step to move 10,000 miles from home to the United Kingdom to further his career.

Lining up in the British F4 by FIA® Championship last season, he scored a maiden podium finish at Snetterton, before competing in the final two rounds of the British GB3 Championship. After making his debut in GB3 on a wet and wild weekend at the challenging Zandvoort F1 track after only one day in the car, he scored a podium in just his second round at Donington Park.

Looking to make the step up to the GB3 Championship full-time for 2024, the young Australian has already completed successful winter testing with JHR Developments, which had a strong campaign last year, clinching the Teams’ Championship title and finishing third in the Drivers’ standings.

Patrick and his teammates – yet to be announced – will take part in extensive pre-season testing ahead of the opening round of the GB3 Championship, which takes place at Oulton Park on its traditional spot over the Easter weekend.

Patrick Heuzenroeder
“I’m very pleased to be joining JHR Developments for the 2024 GB3 Championship. We worked extremely hard in winter testing, and I really enjoyed being in and around the team. They have a wealth of experience and are a great bunch who seem to understand my Aussie sense of humour! We worked well together from the first day.

After a very competitive testing programme I feel really confident JHR is a great fit for me, and I was grateful to be rewarded with a seat in the team which won the 2023 GB3 Teams’ Championship title. I can’t wait to get the season underway in late March. Thanks also to my sponsors and all my supporters for helping me compete again in 2024, particularly the great team at Praden Insurance Broking.”

Australians have the opportunity to be part of Pat’s story and support him by a tax-deductible donation through the Australian Sports Foundation https://asf.org.au/projects/patrick-heuzenroeder/international-motorsport-british-formula-3-championship-gb3

12 November 2023

The 2023 racing season has come to an end. It was great to participate in the remaining two rounds of the GB3 Championship at Zandvoort Circuit and Donington Park.

A baptism of fire in the Netherlands with the main focus to get good seat time, as this was the first time in the car, and experience a GB3 race weekend. Those goals were achieved with the added challenges of rapidly changing weather including extreme winds of 50mph and hail on the grid! Finishing with a start from pole on Sunday and leading a race!

The following weekend was at Donington Park circuit for the final round of the championship. A very cold weekend with more rain but some dry running on Sunday. A more competitive this weekend after a week of processing and analysing, managing to close the gap to the front of the field. Consistently gaining positions in each of the races and coming out with a podium finish in race 3 after a long battle for 2nd.

Race results:
Race 1. P22 -> P18
Race 2. P20 -> P18
Race 3. P1 -> P3 🏆

11 October 2023

Patrick Heuzenroeder will contest the final two GB3 Championship events at Zandvoort and Donington Park with Elite Motorsport.

“After a year in British F4 learning the tracks and the whole new world which is motorsport in the UK, when the offer to take part in GB3 at Zandvoort arose, it seemed a great opportunity. I had the chance to do a one test day in a GB3 car earlier in the year, and after a few laps of adapting to the speed and downforce, I just loved it!

“That day went really well and I’m hopeful I can bring some of that experience to help me get up to speed quickly in the Netherlands but Zandvoort is obviously a very different and totally new track for me. The majority of other drivers have been in these cars all year and many will have tested there, so I’m realistic about my expectations this weekend. I’m sure the experience will help form some decisions I will need to make about 2024 including whether GB3 might be the right step for me.”

“With the F4 season finishing only last weekend, I’m very fortunate to have the chance to get back in a race car and I’m very grateful to Elite Motorsport for the opportunity.”

Eddie Ives, Elite Motorsport Team Owner & Manager:
“We are pleased to announce Pat joining us for Zandvoort and the Donington Park rounds. We’re already impressed with his commitment and his work ethic. It’s a big ask to jump up to GB3 with minimal testing but I’m confident he’ll adapt well and we are fully behind his debut in the championship.”