NOVEMBER 26, 2003

In the footsteps of Justin Wilson

British driver Sam Hancock is hoping to raise $2.5m by floating himself on the stock exchange. The 23-year-old Englishman says that he will use the money to pay for a drive with Super Nova Racing, which acted as the Jordan Junior Team last year, and then hopes to land a Formula 1 test and be racing in F1 by 2006. Hancock will take a salary of $50,000 each year but all his other earnings will go to his investors.

Hancock has been racing since he was nine, when he started out in karts. He moved to Formula Vauxhall Junior in 1997 and then moved to Formula Palmer Audi for 1998 and 1999, scoring his first race win in the series in the second year. Hancock went to the United States in 2000 and took part in a number of races in the Barber Dodge series before he returned to the Palmer Audi European series. Struggling for money Hancock joined the Kremer team in sports car racing in 2001 and was competitive in the FIA Sportscar Championship. He was without a drive in 2002 apart from a run at Le Mans but found some money to take part in a few Formula 3000 races in the second half of this year.