Benjamin Mazatis

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Benjamin Mazatis with SRO Award 2018

Benjamin Peter Mazatis (born 14. January 1998 in Rosenheim) is a German racing driver.

Personal life

In 2016, Mazatis graduated from a high school in Bruckmühl. Through his school years, he repeatedly stood out for his learning successes and in 2013 won the so-called Chemistry Oscar sponsored by the Swiss chemical company Clariant. From October 2016 to February 2020, Mazatis completed his bachelor's degree in sports marketing at Campus M21 in Munich writing his bachelor’s thesis on the marketing of British Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton. Since October, Mazatis has been studying for a master's degree in Management and Marketing.

Early career

Karting

Benjamin Mazatis began his motorsport career in 2004 in karting. With the age of 6 he drove kart slalom before switching to circuit racing in 2007. In 2011, shortly after his 13th birthday, Mazatis was invited by BMW to take part in the Formula BMW test race at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain. That day in the morning he learned to use three pedals, as there is no clutch in the kart, only to drive around the circuit in the 140 hp racing car in the afternoon. After the 2011 season, Mazatis finally switched from karting to formula racing. In October 2012, Mazatis finished second, 0.003 seconds behind Jules Szymkowiak, 3 years his senior, during the Formula BMW Talent Cup Shootout at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

It was a setback for Mazatis, as only the winner got a Formula season financed by BMW. Unlike many other racers, Mazatis does not come from a financially strong family and learned early on that he has to win to get any chance in that sport. Although there were two more BMW shootouts in 2012, Mazatis was unable to take part in them for the same financial reasons.

Mazatis subsequently trained in a race simulator at Silverstone in the UK and, through these circumstances, was given the opportunity to undergo performance diagnostics with the British Formula One team McLaren in September 2013. Afterwards in 2014 Mazatis was accepted into the McLaren Performance Academy, a development programme for young motorsport talent.

Formel 4 (2015)

Mazatis rejoined in 2015, in a now reduced squad. He competed for the Berlin team Mücke Motorsport in the German Formula 4 Championship. There he competed against Prema Racing driver Mick Schumacher, the son of the Formula 1 record world champion Michael Schumacher, and the current McLaren driver Lando Norris. Mazatis was always in the 39-strong field of drivers, as his handicaps couldn't allow him to make it to the top. Thus, compared to the other drivers, he had a reduced test programme due to financial reasons and was also unable to compete in the parallel series, such as the Italian or British Formula 4 championships, to get more driving time and racing experience. Although Mazatis was unable to attract attention with his final championship result, he was awarded the "Driver of Promise" by McLaren

Touring (2016)

In 2016, financial reasons once again put the brakes on Mazatis carrier and his start in Formula 4 failed. Mazatis had to take a six-month break before he had the opportunity to continue his career in touring car racing. He switched to Team Adrenalin Motorsport and entered into a BMW M235i Racing. Right at his debut race in August, Mazatis finished on the podium at Bilster Berg, coming in second. A few weeks later, he celebrated his racing debut at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, where he won outright at the Rundstrecken-Challenge Nürburgring and won both the class and group championships.

Change to the GT (2017)

These successes earned Mazatis an offer from Team Reiter Engineering for the Dubai 24 Hours in December 2016 for 2017, which also meant a switch from touring car to GT. Together with his teammates, the two Americans Brett Sandberg and Dore Chaponick Jr. and the Canadian Anthony Mantella, he brought the KTM to the finish line in second place after 24 hours. Thus, on his 19th birthday in Dubai, Mazatis stood on the winner's podium for the first time. Afterwards, Mazatis decided to continue the season with Reiter Engineering and compete in the "GT4 European Series Northern Cup". In the DTM race at the Circuit Zandvoort, Mazatis celebrated a double podium with his American teammate August McBeth. The duo finished third in Saturday's race and then second on Sunday, although they had to start the races from grid positions 27 and 28 after technical problems in qualifying.

For 2018, Mazatis signed again with Reiter Engineering. After a fourth place at the start, 6 podium finishes followed in the next 7 races before the season finale in Zandvoort, the Netherlands. At the Circuit Zandvoort, Mazatis was virtually on course for the championship until 10 minutes before the end, when he had to make an additional pit stop due to consequential damage from a touch at the start. This meant that he lost all chances of winning the title. In the end, Mazatis finished 3rd in the GT4 European Cup drivers' championship.

In 2019 Mazatis switched to the Porsche and the racing team Allied-Racing. There he experienced a mixed year and at the end of the season he left the team. After the outbreak of the corona pandemic in 2020 and due to a lack of funding, Mazatis announced that he would cut back for 2020 and turn his focus early on to the 2021 season. He only competed in three smaller races on a BMW this year,[19] in order to stay in driving rhythm and racing mode.

External links

• Website Benjamin Mazatis
• Benjamin Mazatis, Driver Database (driverdb.com)

References

This article "Benjamin Mazatis" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Benjamin Mazatis. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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