Brendon Morris Hartley (born 10 November 1989) is a New Zealand racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota. Hartley competed in Formula One from 2017 to 2018. In endurance racing, Hartley has won a joint-record four FIA World Endurance Championship titles—tied with Sébastien Buemi—and is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Hartley won the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship, alongside his teammates Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard, and also went on to win the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship alongside Bernhard and Earl Bamber. He won the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans with Bamber and Bernhard, the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans with Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima, and the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans with Buemi and Ryō Hirakawa.
Hartley formerly competed in Formula One for Scuderia Toro Rosso, making his debut at the 2017 United States Grand Prix.
Brendon Morris Hartley was born on 10 November 1989 in Palmerston North in a family well integrated within motorsport. His father, Brian, had raced in many forms of motorsport, including Formula Atlantic. At the age of six, Hartley began his motor racing career in kart racing, following in his brother Nelson's footsteps. Six years later, he competed in his first full-scale race championship, competing in the Formula First category. Hartley finished the season in seventh. In 2003, he won that year's New Zealand Formula Ford Festival, which resulted in him getting a drive for the following year's Formula Ford championship. In a car his brother had used the previous year, he started four races and won two of them.
After a season in Formula Toyota New Zealand, Hartley moved to Europe, competing in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup (NEC). He finished 14th and tenth in the Drivers' Championship in the Eurocup and North European Cup respectively, taking a podium position at Anderstorp in the latter. In his second year in Formula Renault, he stayed in the Eurocup, but moved from the NEC to the Italian championship. He took three wins in the Eurocup and three podiums in the Italian championship, and took the championship title in the Eurocup.
In 2007, Hartley also made his Formula Three debut in the Masters of Formula 3 at Zolder event, finishing fourth. This resulted in a test with A1 Team New Zealand and the role of the rookie driver for the series. In 2008, he competed in the British Formula 3 Championship for Carlin Motorsport, winning five times, and eventually finished the championship in third. He also competed in eight races in the Formula Three Euroseries for Carlin and RC Motorsport, and achieved two finishes in the points, although he was ineligible for points. In non-championship races, Hartley finished fifth at the Masters of Formula 3, and third at the Macau Grand Prix. After crashing in the qualification race, he started 20th on the grid and recorded the fastest race lap.
Hartley stayed with Carlin for the full F3 Euroseries in 2009, finishing eleventh despite missing two rounds due to Formula Renault 3.5 Series commitments. In that series, Hartley competed for the defending champion Tech 1 Racing team, and ended fifteenth in the championship.
Hartley was signed at Tech 1 for a full season of Formula Renault 3.5 in 2010, where he was partnered by Australian and fellow Red Bull Junior driver, Daniel Ricciardo. During the series' summer break it was announced that Hartley had been dropped from the Red Bull Junior Team. His seat was taken by British Formula 3 championship leader Jean-Éric Vergne.
Despite the loss of his Red Bull backing, Hartley made his GP2 Series début at Monza in September, replacing Vladimir Arabadzhiev at the Coloni team. He scored a point in the season finale at Yas Marina to place 27th in the championship.
For 2011, Hartley returned to Formula Renault 3.5, driving alongside Jan Charouz for the Gravity–Charouz Racing team. With three podiums, Hartley placed seventh in the championship. He also returned to GP2 for the eighth round of the series at Spa-Francorchamps, replacing Kevin Mirocha and driving alongside Johnny Cecotto Jr. in the Ocean Racing Technology team, for whom he had tested before the start of the season. He finished in fifth place in his first race with the team.
Hartley began the 2012 season without a drive, but returned to Ocean for the second round of the championship in Bahrain in place of Jon Lancaster. After the two rounds in Bahrain, he was in turn replaced by Víctor Guerin. He finished 25th in the championship.
First sportscar racing stint (2012–2017)
With no suitable single-seater drives available, Hartley joined the Murphy Prototypes sportscar team, which was competing in the LMP2 class in the European Le Mans Series. Following the cancellation of the second round of the ELMS championship (which would have been Hartley's début event) and the series' future in doubt, Murphy was one of several ELMS teams invited to compete as a guest entry in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, a round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Driving the team's Oreca 03-Nissan, Hartley finished third in the LMP2 class with teammates Warren Hughes and Jody Firth. The trio teamed up again for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but retired from the race.
Hartley remained with Murphy for the 2013 ELMS season, whilst also signing on for a campaign at Starworks Motorsport in the US-based Rolex Sports Car Series. Hartley achieved pole position for the 3 Hours of Hungaroring. Though his teammate Jonathan Hirschi fell back during the race's opening half, Hartley made up almost two laps in drying conditions to finish second. Hartley and Hirschi then won the season finale at Le Castellet; Hartley ended up fifth in the standings. He also scored a victory in the RSCS, winning at Road America alongside Scott Mayer. It could have been two victories, had Hartley not collided with a GT car while leading at Austin.
Ahead of the 2014 season, Porsche announced Hartley as a factory driver, a duty he would fulfill by driving a Porsche 919 Hybrid in the WEC. His first season with the team proved to be challenging, as the No. 20 Porsche crew finished ninth in the standings with three podiums, while the sister car finished third. In 2015, Hartley's fortunes improved: he and teammates Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard finished third at Spa (despite Hartley receiving a penalty) and second at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. They then won the next four races in succession, starting with the 6 Hours of Nürburgring. Issues for the sister car of Romain Dumas allowed Hartley and co. to win at Austin, before team orders were used to give the championship-contending crew the win at Fuji. With a win in Shanghai, Hartley and his teammates earned Porsche the manufacturers' title. Despite suffering technical problems at the season-ending 6 Hours of Bahrain, the crew finished fifth and clinched the drivers' title.
Hartley, Bernhard, and Webber returned to defend their title in 2016. Having initially lead the opening race at Silverstone, Hartley collided with the GT car of Michael Wainwright and retired. He led at Spa during the opening hour, before multiple punctures forced the car out of contention. More issues followed at Le Mans, where water pump and engine heating issues caused Hartley and his teammates to lose two and a half hours in the night. The title-winning crew returned to form at the Nürburgring; in spite of a slow puncture, strong pace from Hartley during his second stint as well as a collision penalty for the sister car earned Hartley and his teammates the victory. In Mexico, the crew overcame changing weather conditions and a penalty for crossing the white line on pit exit to claim their second win of the season. At the next round in Austin, Hartley cut a 40-second deficit to the leading No. 7 Audi down to five seconds after sunset, before a clean run to the flag allowed the reigning champions to win again. After finishing third in Fuji, Hartley led the crew to victory at Shanghai, thereby helping clinch the manufacturers' title for Porsche. With a third place at Bahrain, Hartley and his teammates ended up fourth in the drivers' standings. At year's end, Hartley was named second in a list of the ten best sports car racing drivers of 2016 by online magazine Sportscar365.