British F3: Piers Prior Completes 5-year Underdog Story

In the racing world, one story is common; A driver with a lot of talent fails to make progress up the racing ladder due to lack of funds.

Very often these drivers move to GT’s, Touring Cars, driver coaching, or just quit racing entirely, cutting their losses and returning to a life outside of the cut throat industry. When climbing the route to F1, a fair chunk of disposable income is required to even make the first crucial steps on the single-seater ladder. Now, more than ever, having reliable sponsors is a bigger requirement than skill. It is because of this that drivers, no matter their talent, often forgo any career in junior single-seaters after a certain age, instead turning their efforts to manufacturer and customer racing.

It is with great admiration and surprise to many that Piers Prior will join Lanan Racing for the 2020 BRDC British F3 Championship. Prior, now 22 will be hoping to call upon the experience he gained from karting.

Since raising the eyes of the car racing scene in 2015, Prior has long been linked with drives in either of the UK’s top single-seater series, regularly being linked with tests, though rarely finding fruit.

His skill in karting is certainly not up for debate though. Winning the Sodi World Series Junior Championship in 2010 before being selected in Henry Surtees Foundation karting challenge in 2015. The former was notable for being a series with rental karts, while his HSF success came against a wealth of talent that has since established car racing careers, including Aston Martin GT3 driver Jake Dennis.

His reward; a test in the Formula Renault 2.0 machinery. Previous tests have seen him step into the Ford EcoBoost-powered FIA F4 and Carlin’s F3, where he made his single-seater testing debut. For those watching in 2015 and ’16, Prior was an up and coming name, but lack of racing has seen him fade from public consciousness in recent years.

This isn’t to say he’s lost his talent either though. Last year saw him make a one off appearance in an MG event, where he picked up two second places on debut. F1000 (Formula Jedi) came a few months later and despite having no testing time, he set the equal Fastest lap in race 1 and won on slicks in the rain from 17th in race 2.

He’ll be racing alongside British F3 race winner Josh Mason and British F4 front-runner Bart Horston at Lanan this year.

To even be given the opportunity is a golden chance for Prior. Whether he can adapt to the car quickly is yet to be seen.