Red Bull confirms Ticktum's 2019 racing plans

Red Bull has confirmed junior programme member Dan Ticktum will race in Japan’s Super Formula championship in 2019.

Ticktum, 19, finished as runner-up in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship this year behind Mick Schumacher before claiming his second Macau Grand Prix victory last month.

The British youngster is still chasing the required Super License points to race in Formula 1, and will spend 2019 racing in Japan in a bid to try and add to his current total.

Red Bull confirmed Ticktum will be racing for Team Mugen in 2019 on Wednesday as part of its junior team announcement in conjunction with Honda, its new F1 engine partner for next year.

Ticktum will be joined in Super Formula by 24-year-old Lucas Auer, who has raced in DTM with Mercedes for the past four seasons, and is a newcomer to the Red Bull junior team.

Auer has four DTM wins to his name, but was left without a seat for 2019 following Mercedes’ withdrawal from the series. The Austrian will race with B-Max Racing in Super Formula next year.

Both Ticktum and Auer are attending the Super Formula winter test at Suzuka this week, with the new season set to start next April. 

Red Bull also formally confirmed that new junior programme members Juri Vips and Yuki Tsunoda will both race in the new FIA Formula 3 Championship that replaces GP3 for 2019.

European F3 front-runner Vips will race with Hitech, while Tsunoda is set to link up with Jenzer Motorsport. Tsunoda will also race in the new Formula European Masters series that replaces the old European F3 championship.

Red Bull is set to announce plans for the more junior members of its programme - Jack Doohan, Dennis Hauger, Jonny Edgar and Harry Thompson – “in the coming weeks."