EURO: Lorandi to race for Van Amersfoort in F3

Alessio Lorandi is following in the footsteps of Max Verstappen by going straight from karting into Euro Formula 3

22 Jan 2015

Max Verstappen's replacement at Van Amersfoort has been named as Alessio Lorandi for the upcoming Formula 3 European Championship.

The 16-year-old karting sensational will make his debut in single-seater car racing at the first round of the Formula 3 Euro series in April at Silverstone.

According to team manager Frits van Amersfoort, it was Verstappen who recommended the young Italian to him.

"Max introduced us to Alessio and he only told good things about him," said van Amersfoort. "At the time, he showed a good performance, but we advised him to get some more experience in single-seaters with additional tests. When we came back from Macau, we did further tests with Alessio and one could clearly see what the additional mileage with a race car did for him."

Loradani will team mate Monegasque rookie driver Charles Leclerc at the Dutch team and van Amersfoort insists the young Italian will not be expected to match Verstappen's result from last year. The Toro Rosso-bound driver won ten races in last year's Euro F3 championship and finished third in the drivers' standings.

The young Italian is following in the footsteps as Verstappen, who also made the jump from karts straight into Euro F3 exactly 12 months ago.

"We are optimistic that it will work out," he added. "Even though he now follows the same path as Max Verstappen, this doesn't mean that he will achieve the same results. We all would be more than happy if he only scores 25 percent of Max's results."