AMABA winner Hoggard hopeful Aston WEC test can relaunch career

Hoggard, AMABA winner in 2019, hopes that his test on Sunday in Bahrain aboard the factory-run NorthWest AMR team’s Aston Martin Vantage GTE can kick start his career after a second campaign in the FIA Formula 3 Championship fell over ahead of the start of the 2022 season.

“I’m definitely open to sportscars and that’s where I am focusing my attention for next year,” 21-year-old Hoggard told Autosport.

“The rookie test is the perfect place to show myself and what I can do.

“I haven’t been in a car for while, so it is a good way to get my name out there and then see what opportunities arise. There’s nothing like an official test to get noticed.”

Hoggard admitted that his single-seater aspirations remain on hold for “budget reasons” after the loss of a sponsor drew a line under his projected 2022 F3 campaign with Hitech.

The Briton explained that his “eyes had been opened to the world of sportscars” by his one-off at the Daytona 24 Hours IMSA SportsCar Championship season-opener in 2020.

He raced a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO in the GT Daytona class for Precision Performance Motorsports, his prize for winning the Sunoco Whelen Challenge during his campaign in the BRDC Formula 4 British Championship in 2019.

“Doing Daytona in 2020 was a real eye opener and showed me that there are other forms of professional motorsport out there,” he said.

“It was an experience I enjoyed a lot and made me open to doing more in sportscars.”

Hoggard had planned to remain in FIA F3 after a partial season with Jenzer in 2021 before budget constraints hit

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Hoggard had been due to race in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia in 2020 prior to its cancellation as a result of the COVID crisis.

He insisted that he wasn’t turning his back on single-seaters, to which he made a return in 2021 in FIA F3 with Jenzer Motorsport after missing the opening weekend of the campaign.

“We’ve seen in recent years that it it is more common now for young drivers to make the switch between sportscars and single-seaters in both directions,” explained Hoggard.

“Look at Scott McLaughlin: he came out of the V8 Supercar series in Australia and now he’s winning IndyCar races.”

Hoggard is one of four silver-rated drivers who will sample the NorthWest AMR Aston in the rookie test on Sunday, the day after the final round of this year’s WEC.

Indy Dontje, winner of the ADAC GT4 Germany title with a Dorr Motorsport Aston this year, is joined by IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge regular Patrick Gallagher and Porsche Supercup driver Lorcan Hanafin.

Ryan Hardwick, winner of the GTD class at Daytona this year with the Wright Motorsports Porsche, will test an Aston for the TF Sport team.

Star names taking part in the Bahrain test include Stoffel Vandoorne and Maximilian Guenther, who will drive the Peugeot 9X8.

Nelson Piquet Jr will drive an ORECA-Gibson LMP2 for United Autosports ahead of a European Le Mans Series campaign with the team next year.