Jake Dennis and Spike Goddard solidified their seats in this year’s FIA European F3 Championship yesterday.
Dennis, a winner of the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 2012, will drive for Carlin Motorsport following a reasonably successful campaign in last year’s Eurocup Formula Renault season.
With backing from Racing Steps Foundation, the 18-year-old joins the famed British squad after three seasons with Fortec Motorsport, during which he claimed the 2012 Formula Renault NEC title.
The Warwickshire racer also enjoyed success in the InterSteps series in 2011, prior to his graduation to Renault championships on the continent.
“I can’t wait for the season to start so that I can get out in the Formula 3 car,” said Dennis. He continued, “The championship is very competitive and there is so much to learn and while it will be a big challenge I’m glad to be undertaking it with Carlin as I think we can be strong together.”
Although the Farnham team fell a little short in the European Championship {note 1}, Carlin took another British F3 Series crown with Jordan King, following prior successes with Daniel Ricciardo, Jean-Eric Vergne and Takuma Sato, as well as IndyCar and F1 hopefuls Jack Harvey and Felipe Nasr.
Having previously worked with the likes of Harvey and James Calado, Carlin is delighted to once again be partnered with a Racing Steps prospect. “We’re very proud to be working again with the Racing Steps Foundation, which is a fabulous initiative from Graham Sharp. We’ve created two vice champions and a British F3 champion together previously and we will be doing our utmost again for Jake at this important point in his career.”
Meanwhile Goddard has confirmed that is to remain with T-Sport into the 2014 season – his third in the category. The Australian has often struggled during his tenure in Formula 3; however T-Sport team boss Russell Eacott thinks Goddard has enough potential to at least challenge the mid-pack this year. “Spike has worked really hard over the last two years and has made good progress. European F3 is the highest level of F3 racing so it is a massive challenge for all of the drivers and makes them work for the results. With the knowledge that Spike has gained in 2013 we look forward to fighting for points in the coming season.”
While Goddard has certainly struggled on a number of occasions, the 21-year-old did appear to make notable improvements when partnered by Alexander Sims. Despite this, Goddard scored 0 points last year after managing a best finish of 15th place – a result he achieved on three occasions.
{note 1}
Last season, Harry Tincknell took 5th ahead of fellow Carlin racer Jordan King in the European Championship. While not the result the team may have wanted, Carlin were still the most successful of the Volkswagen-powered entrants, in a category chiefly dominated by Mercedes-backed machinery.
