Richard Bradley: I’m looking forward to a great year with KCMG!

I started racing when I was 8 after my dad took me karting for my birthday. He used to race historic cars and I used to go with him to watch so there was always an interest. It expanded from there and I graduated to national club races in England for 2000 and 2001, before in 2002 I made my break into British Championship competition. This is the first year I had my helmet painted with a design I have kept similar ever since. My mum being Irish also insisted on having a shamrock on the back of the helmet which is still in the exact same place to this very day.

In 2003 I had my first fully serious year in cadets finishing 2nd in the MSA British Cadet championship and I also ventured over to Nutts Corner to race in the GP plate which I managed to win and Nutts instantly became one of my favorite tracks. In 2004 I graduated to Mini Max and had an injury in pre season which meant I cut short my British Championship commitments and did races I otherwise couldn’t have done, like once again the GP plate at Nutts Corner which I again managed to win whilst having a brilliant time there once again.

I graduated to JICA for 2005 competing in the British and European championships and it was great to see more people from Ireland coming over and achieving good results such as Wayne Boyd who I raced at Nutts Corner in 2004. As JICA wasn’t run at the GP plate I couldn’t return again until 2006 where after technical difficulties I had to start last but managed to come through to 2nd. I was lucky to come back to Nutts Corner one more time in my karting time for the Super One championship in 2009, where unfortunately the weather wasn’t so kind to us but I still managed to have another great result finishing 2nd before the main final got cancelled due to rain!

In 2010 I moved to Singapore and graduated to Formula BMW Pacific with a new for Asia helmet, but keeping a similar design with the shamrock still present on the back thanks to Mums presence! I had a great year then managing to win the championship in my rookie year in cars with 3 rounds to go and winning 3 out of the 4 F1 races that the championship supported that season at Sepang and Singapore.

This managed to get the attention of the TOM’S Japanese F3 team for 2011 where I unfortunately lost all my pre season testing due to the earthquake and tsunami disaster but was able to take a podium in my first race at Suzuka and go on to finish the championship in 5th place. At the end of the season I took part in the Macau Grand Prix where I managed to take a 9th on my debut at the notoriously difficult street track.

For 2012 I stayed again with TOM’S and while some bad luck and set backs with the new for 2012 F3 car held us back we still managed to take 4th place in the championship. I was also invited to take part in their Super Formula (old Formula Nippon) test at Fuji Speedway at the end of the year. A good performance in this test led to talks starting between me and the KCMG team for Super Formula in 2013 and a deal being concluded and I’m looking forward to a great year with them!