Romanian karter Petru Florescu named as squad’s third man for new championshipJoins Lando Norris and Colton Herta on driving strength
Petru Florescu is today named as the Carlin team’s third driver for MSA Formula, Britain’s accredited FIA Formula 4 championship. Romanian Petru, 16, graduates from the Carlin Academy, the team’s junior programme, to join Briton Lando Norris and American Colton Herta in the Carlin squad for the championship’s inaugural season.
Forced to sit out the 2014 season after a karting crash in which he broke both his legs, Petru now feels ready to make his car-racing debut: “I am very happy to be able to race with Carlin in 2015. I feel at home in the team and the Carlin Academy helped me immensely. The comeback from my accident has been a difficult struggle, but I’ve worked hard and feel more prepared than ever. I am very much looking forward to the challenge.”
Florescu completed a bespoke programme with the team, making good use of its simulator and school cars as well as a physical rehabilitation programme with Carlin sports science partner Pro Performance. “The progress that Petru has shown since he first started testing with us in the Academy is quite staggering,” said Trevor Carlin. “From being unable to get himself in the car for a seat fit, he’s now applying the same brake pressure as his peers and demonstrating a competitive pace in testing. He has shown utter determination and I’m delighted that we’ve been able to help him through his period of recovery and back into a race seat again. I’ve no doubt that he will be a great asset to the team and will progress further as the 2015 season unfolds.”
Petru starting karting in 2009, and was the 2011 Rotax Mini Max Grand Festival winner. He raced with top Italian squad Tony Kart in the FIA World Junior Karting Championship in 2013.
Carlin is one of the largest teams outside Formula 1, with race-winning experience in a variety of championships including Formula 3, Porsche Supercup, World Series by Nissan, Formula Renault 3.5, A1GP, GP3 and GP2.
All 32 cars for the new championship have found buyers in the 12 teams which will contest MSA Formula – Powered by Ford EcoBoost, certified by FIA. Carlin’s rivals for the inaugural crown will be Arden Motorsport, Double R Racing, Falcon Motorsport, Fortec Motorsport, JHR Developments, JTR, MBM Motorsport, Richardson Racing, Scorpio Motorsport, SWB Motorsport and Team Pyro.
The opening rounds of the BTCC-supporting championship will take place in front of ITV4’s live cameras at Brands Hatch at the beginning of April.
