Alex Lynn has brought forward his Formula 3 race debut by lining up a campaign in the European F3 Open Winter Series.
The 18-year-old Essex driver, dominant champion in the 2011 Formula Renault UK Championship, will compete with British squad Team West-Tec at the Algarve circuit in Portugal on February 17th and then Paul Ricard in the south of France on March 3rd.
It will enable him to get race-sharp prior to the kick-off of his maiden British F3 International Series campaign with Fortec Motorsport, with a test programme through March prior to the opening round at Oulton Park in April.
Alex explained: “This time last year I was racing in the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand, and that really helped me and proved a real bonus at the start of the year in Formula Renault UK.
“The European F3 Open Winter Series has come about at a great time. I’ve managed to test on a couple of the tracks on the British F3 calendar. We were trying to find out about getting track time at Paul Ricard – where we’ll be racing in British F3 during the summer – and we came across this race. So we thought we might as well do Algarve as well. It’s a good opportunity to compete in a championship that’s on the way up.”
“I’ll be driving a Dallara F308, one of the older-spec cars, so I’m not sure how we’ll do against the new F312s, but I’m fully intending to go out there, do as well as I can and hopefully win it! I haven’t driven a car since December, and this should warm me up for the British F3 season.”
Lynn was also recently selected for the second year running as part of the Team UK talent scheme of British motorsport’s governing body, the MSA. This represents another feather in his cap, which also includes his place on the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy, as well as the British Racing Drivers Club’s SuperStars programme.