Australia has produced some top class racing drivers including Daniel Ricciardo and the 2021 FIA Formula 2 champion Oscar Piastri.

Hugh Barter could be next on that list of great names as he continues his journey up the single-seater ladder.

Barter will compete in a joint campaign of Spanish and French F4 championships in 2022 in his second year of single-seater racing.

The Australian-Japanese driver represented Australia twice on the international stage in karting. 

After this great achievement he decided to fully commit to his dream of winning the F1 world championship. Barter said: “After representing Australia I think the realisation hit me and that this wasn’t any hobby this was a career path the becoming a Formula 1 world champion.

Barter performed admirably in French F4 last year winning two races at Nogaro and Magny-Cours.

At the age of five he began racing karts and instantly clicked with motorsport. 

He also enjoyed the mechanical nature of the kart and improving his driving. He said on the Hugh Barter Racing Youtube channel “I loved learning how to drive and how the mechanics of the kart worked and the atmosphere was just amazing.”

The teenager also explained that studying data from earlier track action and learning from it is incredibly rewarding: “It’s such a satisfying feeling when you come in from a practice session and you look at data from previous days or today and you know exactly what to do when you go out on track for your next session.

“And you gain two tenths, one tenth or you might not gain any time at all but if you know exactly what’s going on it’s just an amazing feeling.”

He also performed at an extremely high standard in the Australian championships finishing near the front: Barter added “I also had great success in competing in the Australian titles and able to finish in the top three.”

Barter’s 2022 season begins on the 16th of April in French F4 at Nogaro as his second year of car racing gets underway.

*Image credits: Hugh Barter Racing