Nelson Mason

Nelson Mason (born 13 October 1987) is a Canadian racing driver currently racing in the World Series Formula V8 3.5 for Teo Martín Motorsport. He is one of only a handful of Canadian racing drivers who made the step into the European motorsport scene with some success. He added the 2013 European F3 Open Winter Series Championship to his crown and made the move up into World Series this year.

Nelson Mason
Nelson Mason
Nationality Canadian
Born (1987-10-13) 13 October 1987
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Related toJesse Mason (brother)
World Series Formula V8 3.5 career
Debut season2017
Current teamTeo Martín Motorsport
Car number10
Starts9
Wins0
Poles0
Fastest laps1
Best finish11th in 2017
Previous series
2014
2013
2010		GP3 Series
European F3 Open
Italian Formula Three
Championship titles
20132013 European F3 Open Winter Series Champion

Career

Early career

Born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Mason came from a family rooted in motorsport. His father and grandfather designed and built the RTJ Formula Vee that his father raced to many championships in North America in the 1980s and 1990s in the SCCA and in the Canadian Automobile Sport Clubs ASN Canada FIA. His brother, Jesse Mason was also a successful racing driver, competing Internationally and finishing 3rd in the Indy Lights championship in 2004. Mason began racing in motocross in 1992, when he was 4 years old. At the time he was too young to race in karting in North America, so Motocross in Canada in the CMRC was the only option. By the time Mason hit his 8th birthday in 1995, he had won the Ontario Provincial Motocross Championship and the Canadian National Motocross Championship. He did double duty in 1996, racing in both the CMRC and starting his first year in karting in the United States. That year he added another Provincial Championship to his Motocross resume, and went on to take the New York State Karting Championship, forcing him to miss the Canadian Nationals in ’96. That led to focusing on 4 wheels from then on. In 1997, he began racing in the World Karting Association. Mason took a multitude of wins as he progressed through the karting classes, including international wins in the 1999 Constructor's Cup.[1] In 2002, he moved up to the SKUSA ProMoto Tour in the 80cc Shifterkart class with the MBA karts team. In 2003, Mason was picked up by the First Kart North America team. He shifted his focus to the Champ Car Stars of Tomorrow Karting Championship. He also did some appearances in SKUSA that year, scoring Pole Positions in Jacksonville and Texas. Mason won in the Champ Car series first time out, and went on to the Champ Car World Finals in California to qualify pole and win the Pre-Final, before finishing 3rd in the Final and taking 3rd in the overall Championship. Later, he competed in the British Universities Karting Championship from 2006 - 2008. He scored a multitude of victories for his Oxford Brookes University Kart team, and finished 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, in the Championship respectively.[2]

Early car career

Mason made his open-wheel racing debut, competing in his father's Formula Vee in the SCCA in 2004. Due to budget limitations he was only able to run several rounds, but scored a podium at Pocono Raceway. In 2005, Mason got a late chance to race in the Walter Hayes Trophy Race in a Spirit Formula Ford. His first foray in European racing and in Formula Ford, Mason excelled around the Silverstone Circuit, in a car prepared just by him and his brother. In a field of over 150 cars, Mason battled his way through the rainy conditions to make the final, and go from 18th to 3rd within the first 3 laps. After a race long battle for 3rd position, Mason slid off the road into the gravel with 2 laps remaining. In 2006 Mason headed back to North America, racing again in Formula Vee in the SCCA. He scored wins, podiums, and lap records on way to finishing 3rd in the championship at the 2006 SCCA Runoffs. His European racing continued, competing in the Formula Ford Festival in 2007 and 2008. His best result was 21st in 2007 after looking set for a top 10 finish, setting fastest lap, but was taken out of 4th place in the semi-final race, forcing him to race his way into the final through the Last Chance race.[3] Also he spent six races in 2010 Italian Formula Three season with Team Ghinzani.[4]

European F3 Open

After three-year absence Mason moved to European F3 Open Championship with Team West-Tec in 2013. He had wins at Le Castellet and Jerez with another three podiums on his way to the third in the series standings.[5]

GP3 Series

In 2014, Mason graduated to the GP3 Series with Hilmer Motorsport.[6]

Racing record

Career summary
Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2007 Formula Ford Festival 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 21st
2008 Formula Ford Festival 1 0 0 0 0 N/A NC
2010 Italian Formula 3 Championship Team Ghinzani 6 0 0 0 0 0 29th
2013 European F3 Open Championship Team West-Tec 16 3 4 4 6 9 3rd
Macau Grand Prix Jo Zeller Racing 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 17th
2014 GP3 Series Hilmer Motorsport 17 0 0 0 0 0 22nd
2017 World Series Formula V8 3.5 Teo Martín Motorsport 9 0 0 1 0 42 11th

Complete GP3 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Points
2014 Hilmer Motorsport CAT
FEA
17		 CAT
SPR
Ret		 RBR
FEA
14		 RBR
SPR
16		 SIL
FEA
25		 SIL
SPR
12		 HOC
FEA
16		 HOC
SPR
14		 HUN
FEA
19		 HUN
SPR
20		 SPA
FEA
15		 SPA
SPR
10		 MNZ
FEA
Ret		 MNZ
SPR
18		 SOC
FEA
15		 SOC
SPR
DNS		 YMC
FEA
17		 YMC
SPR
18†		 22nd 0

† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete World Series Formula V8 3.5 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Points
2017 Teo Martín Motorsport SIL
1
7		 SIL
2
Ret		 SPA
1
9		 SPA
2
9		 MNZ
1
6		 MNZ
2
6		 JER
1
5		 JER
2
8		 ALC
1
DNP		 ALC
2
9		 NÜR
1		 NÜR
2		 MEX
1		 MEX
2		 COA
1		 COA
2		 BHR
1		 BHR
2		 11th 42
gollark: That would be 49% or so at most, which is more, although you then run into the issue of "how do you make that many electric cars" and "is there even that much lithium".
gollark: ... unless you want nuclear cars which I have to say would be very cool.
gollark: I mean, yes, nuclear good, but it would only work for the "electricity and heat production" and "other energy" segments.
gollark: What? No, 35% or so can, at most.
gollark: I'm not sure what you would do about it without scaling down beef production a lot, which would make people unhappy, since I don't really know much about how farming works at large scales.

References
  1. "WKA Constructors Championship — Formula Yamaha Junior 1999 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  2. "British Universities Karting Championship 2008 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  3. "Formula Ford Festival — Duratec class 2007 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  4. "Nelson Mason with Team Ghinzani at Hockenheim". F3Italia.it. Italian Formula Three Championship. 4 June 2010. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  5. "Euroformula Open 2013 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  6. Allen, Peter (8 May 2014). "Mason and Visser secure Hilmer seats for GP3 opener". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 8 May 2014.

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