Teenage racer Billy Monger, who lost parts of both his legs in a Formula Four crash last year, has confirmed he will return to racing in the British F3 series with Carlin.
Monger, 18, will compete on a race-by-race basis for the Carlin team starting with the season-opening round at Oulton Park this weekend.
“Excited to announce I’ll be lining up on the grid for the first race of BRDC British F3 this weekend,” Monger announced on social media. “One race at a time for now but hoping to confirm for the rest of the season soon. Thanks Carlin and Bayhar for your continued support.”
Following his crash a crowdfund raised over £800,000 for Monger including contributions from several major figures in motor sport including F1 drivers. He returned to the cockpit less than three months after his crash. Monger uses specially adapted hand control to operate the accelerator, brakes and clutch.
The British F3 championship runs eight triple-header events including rounds at Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps and Donington Park. Monger’s team mates will be Nicolai Kjaergaard and Renault F1 team junior racer Sun Yue Yang.
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
27th March 2018, 17:34
Extremely exciting. Any news on how the car will be modified to accommodate Monger?
BasCB (@bascb)
27th March 2018, 20:12
MaddMe (@)
27th March 2018, 22:00
@chrischrill An article on the BBC website shows an reasonably good description of the car.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/43189918
angelic (@angelicdarkness)
28th March 2018, 4:34
I was wondering how he would be able to drive. That’s a very clever plan to move the Controls to the steering wheel. Only one concern though in case of an accident he will be a sitting duck. But well you gotta compromise somewhere.
Rick D. (@partsguy20)
27th March 2018, 18:01
Simply amazing and inspiring. I hope he does well and we see him continue up the ranks in the coming years.
Such meerkat
28th March 2018, 7:42
I have to agree with you, this kid is amazing!.
4 years ago I almost lost my arm and I’ve been mentally fragile ever since even though I still have everything, Billy Whiz has shrugged it off like a bad case of flu.
I am in awe of him
Sham (@sham)
27th March 2018, 18:38
This kid is simply awe inspiring. Is the race on TV somewhere?
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
27th March 2018, 21:46
@sham Should be on ITV4.
Dave
27th March 2018, 18:41
Good for him! What an inspiring young man.
John H (@john-h)
27th March 2018, 18:44
Inspiring. Shades of Zanardi of course. Can’t get to Oulton Park this weekend, but would be great to see him in action later in the season.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
27th March 2018, 19:16
This is fantastic news. It will give similarly disabled people a lot of encouragement.
Broke84 (@broke84)
27th March 2018, 19:31
Great news, all the best to him.
Forza Maldonado (@forzamaldonado)
27th March 2018, 20:04
Great to see him back! Curious to see how the car will be modified to accommodate him.
Lancer033 (@lancer033)
28th March 2018, 12:08
right leg pushes the brake pedal, right hand uses a paddle for the throttle, left hand has up/down shift paddles. If the car had an electronic throttle body already, there’s not much to change other than the steering wheel.
dutchtreat (@dutchtreat)
27th March 2018, 20:08
Such great news, it sure made my day. Go Billy!
Markp
27th March 2018, 22:48
Great story, overcoming what life has thrown at him. How was he viewed as a driver before his accident? I had never heard of him, has his accident given him a chance he would otherwise not of had or is this move up what he was in line for anyway? I think it’s a fare question to ask and am sure someone who followed f4 can answer.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
28th March 2018, 1:51
He was top 5 in f4 before the crash. I’m guessing another year in f4 might’ve been on the cards, but perhaps the necessary car modifications wouldn’t have been possible at that level.
Markp
28th March 2018, 10:26
Where ever he was its fantastic as an example of staying determined to achieve your goals no matter what. What has happened to the other drivers that were competitive with him or better? Would be great to have a feature on how the controls work as I guess accelerator and throttle is with fingers like a console controller on a race game, when I am not using a wheel and pedals I use automatic gears with a controller as its very fiddly to change gears when your fingers are also for accelerator and brakes. How does he do this?
Strontium (@strontium)
28th March 2018, 0:00
This is incredible! I have one genuine concern though, how does he get out of the car quickly if there’s a fire?
Excuse me :D (@square-route)
28th March 2018, 11:18
Absolutely amazing.. GL HF
Arnold Triyudho Wardono (@ernietheracefan)
28th March 2018, 20:34
He’s got guts..
Wish him luck..