Josh Hill and Dmitry Suranovich have become the latest names attached to the FIA European F3 Championship.
The pair will be joining Felix Serralles and Pipo Derani at Fortec Motorsport, as the British squad bring a four-pronged attack to the series.
Hill’s position as both the son and grandson of Formula One World Champions {note 1} is quite unique in motorsport and is something that will naturally garner plenty of focus in the media.
However the 22-year-old is keen to point out that rather than emulate past heroics, his focus is on the job at hand. As far as Hill is concerned, “It’s great to be racing in the 2013 F3 European Championship. It’s a hugely prestigious championship that represented a major step in the careers of drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. At the same time, it also is an extremely competitive series. I just can’t wait for contesting my first tests and the first race at Monza.”
Hill’s promotion to the European F3 Championship comes off the back of a positive campaign in the Formula Renault NEC championship with Fortec, during which he picked up five wins and two podiums.
The Englishman eventually finished 3rd overall, not far behind fellow countrymen Jake Dennis and Jordan King.
For Suranovich, this will be the Russian driver’s first season with Fortec and follows a single season effort in the GP3 Series with Marussia Manor. Throughout a difficult year, Suranovich secured a best result of 11th, collecting no points along over the course of fifteen races.
The 17-year-old gained notoriety at Monaco last year for his part in a crash with Conor Daly during the Sunday morning sprint race, in which Daly barrel-rolled repeatedly. Clips of the accident, which came close to taking out several marshals, quickly went viral and appeared on news broadcasts across the world.
Considering his action leading to the incident, it is the opinion of TheMotorsportArchive.com that Suranovich was lucky not to be banned from the series.
{note 1}
Josh’s father Damon won the World title in 1996 with Williams after narrowly missing out two years beforehand, while grandfather Graham took the Formula One crown twice – first with BRM in 1962, before following up with Lotus in 1968.
On several occasions in the past, it has become necessary to go back over posts and correct Josh’s name, but I am getting better; however if from time-to-time Josh is referred to as “Damon”, then forgive the slip and quietly remind me that it is no longer the mid-90s.
2013 FIA European Formula 3 grid (as of February 28th)
Carlin: Jordan King Harry Tincknell
Jann Mardenborough Nicholas Latifi
Double R: Tatiana Calderon Sean Gelael
Antonio Giovanazzi
EuroInternational: Tom Blomqvist
Fortec: Pipo Derani Felix Serralles
Josh Hill Dmitry Suranovich
Jo Zeller Racing: TBA
ma-con Motorsport: Andre Rudersdorf Sven Muller
Mucke Motorsport: Mitchell Gilbert Roy Nissany
Pascal Wehrlein Felix Rosenqvist
Prema Powerteam: Lucas Auer Eddie Cheever III
Alex Lynn Raffaele Marciello
T-Sport: Will Buller Spike Goddard
URD Rennsport: TBA
Van Amersfoort: Dennis van de Laar Mans Grenhagen
