Rob Nguyen

Robert Hoang Nguyen (born 18 August 1980 in Brisbane) is an Australian racing car driver of Vietnamese descent who competed in the 2002 and part of the 2003 International Formula 3000 (which is now known as Formula 2) seasons before running out of money. He was noted for coming straight into F3000 after only nine previous car races in his life and was at one stage regarded as a potential major talent.

Career

Early career After growing up in Australia, Nguyen was sent to the University of Lausanne, Switzerland to study Business in 2000. As a reward for his studies, his parents paid for him to have a test run in a Formula Opel car at an Austrian racing school run by Walter Penker. His first ever run in a racing car was impressive enough for Penker to invite him to take part in a full season of German Formula VW in 2001. Racing under a Swiss license, he finished fifth in the final championship standings, with two podium finishes and a pole position. Penker arranged a Formula 3000 test with the Team Astromega, and Nguyen was promptly signed for 2002.

2003 Nguyen switched to rookie Spanish team BCN Competicion for the 2003 season. He finished eighth at Imola and fifth at Barcelona to score five points under the revised scoring system, but he could only manage thirteenth at the A1-Ring. By the next race, in Monaco, Nguyen had run out of funding and lost his drive with the team, to be replaced by Will Langhorne. There was no other deal available, and Nguyen was forced to drop out of the series. He appeared in a testing session at the end of the year with Coloni, but he did not race again.

Formula Holden Nguyen returned to his home country in 2004 to race in the Australian Formula 4000 Holden series with Hocking Motorsport, finishing third in the championship with two wins, five podiums, a pole position and 82 points from the seven races in the series. He was again left without a drive in 2005, and now only races for sport.

Career summary Season Series Position Car Team 2001 Formula Volkswagen Germany 5th ? - Volkswagen Penker Racing 2002 International Formula 3000 season 13th Lola B2/50 - Zytek Team Astromega 2003 International Formula 3000 season 15th Lola B2/50 - Zytek BCN F3000 2004 Australian Drivers' Championship 3rd Reynard 97D - Holden Hocking Motorsport Australian Formula 4000 3rd 2011 World Time Attack Challenge - Open class 18th Honda CRX 101 Motorsport 2012 World Time Attack Challenge 18th Honda CRX 101 Motorsport Australian Japanese Nationals 1st 2013 World Time Attack Challenge - Pro-Am class 6th Honda CRX 101 Motorsport Australian Japanese Nationals 10th 2014 World Time Attack Challenge - Pro-Am class 4th Honda CRX 101 Motorsport Australian Japanese Nationals 1st 2015 World Time Attack Challenge - Pro-Am class 3rd Honda CRX 101 Motorsport 2016 World Time Attack Challenge - Pro-Am class 2nd Honda CRX 101 Motorsport Australian Japanese Nationals 10th 2017 World Time Attack Challenge - Pro-Am class 1st Honda CRX 101 Motorsport

Complete International Formula 3000 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)