British rising star Alex Lynn has joined Prema Powerteam to compete in European Formula 3 in 2013.

Lynn, who finished fourth in the British Formula 3 International Series with one race win this year, will race a Mercedes-powered Dallara with the Italian team. The 19-year-old has made the move after a successful test with Prema at the Vallelunga circuit near Rome. 

Prema will be attacking a third consecutivechampionship-winning season in 2013, having taken honours with Roberto Merhi (in 2011) and Daniel Juncadella (2012).

“We wanted to do Europe, and it’s really hard to ignore what Prema have done in that,” said Alex. “When I did the test with them I was really impressed."

The switch means a move away from Fortec Motorsport, with which whom Lynn has driven since his first steps in car racing. This included his major title to date – victory in the 2011 Formula Renault UK Championship – as well as his rookie F3 campaign.

“It’s hard for me to imagine life without Fortec,” he said. “I’m 19 now and I’ve been with them since I started testing Formula BMWs when I was 15. But I needed to take a decision like this to move me out of my comfort zone. It’s going to make things a little bit harder with a foreign team and I will need to raise my game to perform, but I have to push myself now if I want to go very far in motor racing.

“No doubt I will have some cracking team-mates and we can all learn from each other and do a good job together.”

"In the meantime, I'm really looking forward to my first trip to Macau this weekend.  I'd obviously like to thank Richard Dutton and all the guys at Fortec who have worked so hard to look after me for the last few years – they've been amazing."

Lynn, who is a member of the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy, the MSA’s Team UK and the British Racing Drivers Club’s SuperStars programme, makes his final start with Fortec in this weekend’s Macau Grand Prix. He then starts his new life as a Prema driver in December with an intensive testing programme.

Prema has 30 years of unbroken experience in Formula 3. The team, founded by Angelo Rosin, first raced in the Italian championship in 1983 and has since launched future stars including Dindo Capello, Fabrizio Giovanardi, JacquesVilleneuve, Robert Kubica, Ryan Briscoe and Kamui Kobayashi.

While Rosin remains team principal, his son Rene is now the team manager of Prema’s European F3 squad.

"Rene is a top guy and manages the team superbly,” said Alex. “It seems like a really professional environment to be around. I’m going to enjoy the challenge in 2013 – it will be a lot of fun.”