Two teams with a rich history of success in Formula 3 - CF Racing and Manor Motorsport - are to join forces for the coming Cooper Tires British F3 season. The combined squad will field Mercedes-engined Dallaras for promising Welsh driver Hywel Lloyd and reigning Formula BMW Pacific Champion Rio Haryanto. Indonesian driver Haryanto will fit his British F3 outings around a full GP3 season with Manor.

In a nod to Manor's new Formula 1 connections, the CF Racing with Manor Motorsport machines will carry a livery similar to that of the Virgin Racing Grand Prix cars. The squad will, says CF Racing team founder Harry Lloyd, be all the stronger thanks to the marriage.

"CF Racing and Manor have had a good working relationship for a long time," he said, "so when Manor decided to end its involvement with the F3 Euroseries it made sense for us to amalgamate, pool our resources, personnel and know-how, because we both have much to gain from it."

The fruits of the association are already becoming apparent: in final testing at Oulton Park last week, Hywel set an impressive eighth-best time overall. "He's well up for it this year," confirms Harry of his 25-year-old son. Lloyd Junior won BARC Formula Renault titles with the family team before moving up with the squad to British F3 in 2008; he won the National class in two outings that season and last year achieved a hat-trick of top-six overall finishes in his maiden season of International class competition.

Manor Motorsport drivers claimed British F3 Championship titles in 1999 (Marc Hynes) and 2000 (Antonio Pizzonia).