Richie Stanaway joins Team BRM for 2009 season (12/01/2009 at 8:36:04 AM) SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD NEW ZEALAND sensation Richie Stanaway will race for Team BRM in the 2009 Australian Formula Ford Championship, completing the teams’ three-car line-up. Stanaway will join new teammates Ben Small and Jordan Skinner in a three-car team driving works supported Mygale SJ09 chassis for the two-time Australian Drivers Championship winning team based in Adelaide, South Australia. In a big year, Team BRM will run the Formula Ford program alongside an effort to win back-to-back titles in the Australian Drivers Championship for Formula 3. Hailing from Tauranga, on New Zealand’s Northern seaboard, Stanaway burst onto the Australian Motorsport landscape in the final round of the 2008 series at Oran Park, qualifying eighth driving a 2008 Mygale. Stanaway was just six-tenths of a second from pole position despite his unfamiliarity with the challenging Oran Park layout. In his native New Zealand Richie has been a sensation from the first time he stepped into a racing car, winning the Speed Sports Scholarship on his first attempt, before embarking on a campaign in Formula First (Vee). He finished third overall in his first season in the category. He has also contested rounds of the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship, winning all three races at Timaru international raceway at the weekend and currently leading the championship. “I’m really looking forward to the challenge of racing in Australia this year,” Stanaway said. “Obviously it would be great if I could follow guys like Brendan Hartley to Europe but if the opportunity to have a career in Australia comes up I’d take it. “I’m not sure how we’ll go until we’ve done some testing but I think it could be a good year. It was nice to have the pace to run with the guys at the front of the Australian field like we did at Oran Park –we just didn’t get the results – but it gives me a lot of confidence. “The New Zealand (summer) series is going really well and we’ve got a 90-point lead with three rounds to go. I’m making sure I keep pushing as hard as I can to improve myself as a driver and give myself the best possible preparation for the Australian Championship this year. I’m really looking forward to it.” “We’re very pleased to complete our three-car line up for Formula Ford by confirming Richie Stanaway will drive for us in 2009,” said Team BRM’s Mark Rundle. “The team has been really impressed with his performances in Formula Ford during 2008. He was obviously very good in New Zealand and his debut in Australia, at Oran Park, was impressive. He’s clearly a natural talent and we’ll be working very hard to give him a good car that is capable of winning races - because we know he can. “It is exciting for Team BRM to have all three drivers in place at this early stage of the season. It will give us a good couple of months to test and prepare for our return to Formula Ford. With Richie, Jordan (Skinner) and Ben (Small) we have an exemplary driving line up and one that we know will be successful when combined with our new Mygale chassis."