Spanish single-seater ace Roberto Merhi has today, Wednesday, 5th November, been officially confirmed as Double R Racing’s lead entry into this year’s Suncity Group Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix with key support and backing from high-profile Chinese online gaming business W66.com.Reuniting with the Woking team with whom he achieved two race victories at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium back in July during a one-off outing in the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 Championship, the 23-year-old will pilot a W66.com branded Mercedes HWA powered Dallara F313.Without any doubt, Merhi has firmly established himself as one of the globe’s premier single-seater talents and is on the cusp of breaking into the FIA Formula One World Championship, having finished third overall in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series this year.Debuting in cars at the end of 2006 in Formula Renault, the Castellon-born racer remained in the one-make category for the next couple of years before progressing into Formula 3 in 2008 in the Spanish F3 Championship where he won two races.After winning the prestigious Formula 3 Euroseries title in 2011, Merhi graduated into the DTM touring car series as part of the Mercedes-Benz Junior operation the following year and he remained in the category for two seasons.He then returned to single-seaters this year where he claimed three race victories in his first season in Formula Renault 3.5 and also debuted in Formula One as a ‘reserve driver’ for the Caterham F1 Team, taking part in two FP1 sessions. His one-off outing in British F3 with Double R, which enabled him to qualify for participation in Macau, marked Merhi’s first F3 races since 2011.Double R Racing, of course, has a long history as part of the end-of-year Macau F3 Grand Prix which it won in 2006 with Mike Conway. With the highly rated Merhi on-board for the 61st instalment of the big race, hopes in the team are justifiably high of a potential repeat.“We can’t wait for Macau, Roberto is an incredibly talented driver and although he hasn’t raced F3 full time this year we’re confident he’s going to be a big threat”, said team principal Anthony ‘Boyo’ Hieatt, “It’s fantastic to have him competing with W66.com Double R Racing in this year’s race, you never know until qualifying how the weekend will pan out but we’re feeling confident of a good run.“Macau, like any race on a tight and twisty street circuit, is all about qualifying so that’s going to be a massively important part of the weekend. If we can get that right, Roberto clearly has the skill, ability and pace to be a real challenger. We’re delighted to have partnered with W66.com for this year’s race, hopefully we can all celebrate a successful result.”The annual Macau F3 Grand Prix, which takes place on the Circuito da Guia street track in the former Portuguese enclave, is the crown jewel in the global F3 calendar. This year’s event will get underway on Thursday, 13th November, with free practice and the opening qualifying session with the second qualifying run following on Friday, 14th November.On Saturday, 15th November, the 10-lap Qualification Race will begin at 13.45 local time (05.45 UK time), with the main Suncity Group Macau F3 Grand Prix following on Sunday, 16th November, at 15.30 local time (07.30 UK time).
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