MSA Formula race-winner Colton Herta will contest the 2016 BRDC Formula 4 Championship with Carlin, it has been confirmed today (11 January). The 15-year-old, who raced for the Surrey-based team in 2015, is the outfit's third signed driver for the upcoming season. He will race alongside MSA Formula Champion Lando Norris and Indian Ameya Vaidyanathan and becomes the 10th confirmed driver on the 2016 BRDC F4 grid.

Herta, the son of multiple IndyCar and CART race-winner Bryan, contested his first season in Europe in 2015, taking four wins and a further eight podiums en route to third overall in the MSA Formula championship standings. Prior to racing in the UK, Herta competed in the IndyCar-supporting USF2000 series in late 2014, with a pair of fifth-place finishes his best results, and the Pacific Formula F1600 category in 2013.

The California native, who turns 16 the week before the opening round of the season, has already begun his testing programme in the new, more powerful Tatuus-Cosworth MSV F4-016 ahead of his 2016 campaign in BRDC Formula 4.

Herta said: “Last year was a great start to my European racing career. With Carlin, I was able to learn a lot and finish the season very strong. I look forward to carrying that momentum into the new season in BRDC F4.”

Trevor Carlin, Team Principal of Carlin, added: “I’m so pleased that Colton stays with us for another season. The progress he made on every level in 2015 was very impressive and by the end of the year he was one of the most consistent drivers in the field. He’s a great asset to the team and we have no doubt he will be a front-runner in 2016.”

The 2016 BRDC Formula 4 Championship features 24 races across eight meetings, taking in legendary race circuits such as Brands Hatch, Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. The season gets underway at Snetterton in Norfolk on March 27/28.