DeFrancesco joins MP Motorsport for rest of 2018 GP3 season

Devlin DeFrancesco will contest the remainder of the 2018 GP3 season with MP Motorsport. 

The 2017 Spanish Formula 3 champion will make his GP3 debut in Austria this weekend alongside MP regulars Dorian Boccolacci and Niko Kari in the Dutch squad’s final entry which has been filled by Will Palmer and Christian Lundgaard during the opening two rounds of the season.

"I was originally asked to race GP3 last year by a few teams and asked if I would consider a few one off races this year" DeFrancesco said.

"After considering changes the F3 and GP3 series are taking for 2019, switching to GP3 seems like the best option for the future. 

“It will definitely be tough never having tested the car before but I'm super excited and up for the challenge.”

DeFrancesco stepped up to European F3 with Carlin for 2018, scoring a best result of 14th from the first two events in Pau and Hungary. The Canadian missed last weekend’s Norisring round in order to have dental surgery. 

He will combine his GP3 commitments alongside selected rounds in European F3 with Carlin ahead of plans to merge the series with GP3 to create a rebranded FIA International F3 championship for 2019. 

"I'm fortunate I'm part of Carlin also and on some of the free weekends I'll race FIA [F3] for additional track time," DeFrancesco added.

“My first impressions of MP are very positive, they seem like a great bunch of guys and definitely work hard, nobody's more excited to start than I am.”

MP team manager Sander Dorsman said: ”We are happy to welcome Devlin in our team. His progress in British F4 and Euroformula Open was exciting to watch, and I'm sure that with us he will deliver on that promise.

"As a team, we will be there to help him get on with his first GP3 race weekend, and I'm convinced he will transform the experience into an ever-improving GP3 debut season."