One of the bright young stars of Australian motorsport has just added to his already impressive list of achievements.
Hamish Hardeman took out the 2016 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge with a win and two seconds at Phillip Island in the final round of the 18-race series on September 10-11. It follows his open-wheel Formula Ford wins in the Victoria and South Australia state championships in 2013 and his fifth place in 2014 in the national championships.
The 23-year-old Rosebud carpenter’s journey began as a 10-year-old accompanying his dad on car club outings; at 15 he got a CAMS licence so he could drive his dad’s car on the track; at 17 the “bit of fun” turned serious when he bought a Porsche 944 and began racing.
“It’s a long way to get to where I am today, but it’s kind of like that in motorsport - if you’re brought up lacking the funds to go racing it always makes it a challenge. I’m always chasing sponsorships to make it happen. I was able to get a couple of sponsors behind me this year to see the rest of the year out, which was good.
“(My parents) have poured their heart and soul into it, but it’s got to the point where this year was the last year they could fund it. Working’s just a part of being able to pay for it all – the end goal is to be able to take the nailbag off and be a professional driver somewhere. Next year I’ll stay in Australia and try to race in the Porsche Carrera Cup – a few ex-V8 Supercar drivers come back to Carrera Cup so I could be racing Steven Richards, Craig Baird and Alex Davison. Hopefully I do a good enough job that I’m able to prove myself and a team from V8s or Europe are interested in having me as a driver.
“My personal goal is to be able to race overseas in Europe and do the world endurance championship – that’s what Mark Webber’s doing at the moment – but if not and it all goes in a different direction, V8 Supercars would be a good category to be in.”