Car Number: 8
Country: New Zealand
Age: 18
Team: M2 Competition
Amrstrong’s career began in karting in 2007 at the age of seven and ramped up sharply to win the cadet national title in 2011 and was second overall in the 100cc Junior Restricted class at the New Zealand School Nationals. In 2012 Armstrong was juggling study with motor racing both in New Zealand and the USA, and winning the Kiwi 100cc Junior Restricted title.
In an impressive karting career spanning six years, Armstrong had amassed seven major category title wins and many podium finishes here and in the USA. He drove seven races of the inaugural Toyota Finance 86 Championship in 2013- 2014. Despite only contesting the second part of the season he finished eighth overall. Returning the following year, he raced the first three rounds, recording two outright wins and finishing seventh overall, winning the Rookie of the Year award. Armstrong topped his 86 career off with three races in the most recent championship, recording two podium finishes and one fastest lap.
His racing gathered momentum this year, the 16-year-old competing in European and world championship events in the intensely competitive KZ classes. At the same time he began testing in a Formula Renault single-seater, then contested the penultimate round of the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC at the Nurburgring and at the final round for the British Formula 3 Championship. Though entered as a ‘wild card’ with the intention of simply gaining experience in single seaters, Armstrong was instantly competitive in fields of two dozen or more.
