Former Campos GP3 driver Alex Palou has moved to the Japanese Formula 3 championship for the 2017 season.

The Spaniard will race with the Threebond with Drago Corse team after two seasons in the Formula 1 feeder series in 2015 and 2016.

Palou’s time in the series involved a best Drivers’ Championship finish of 10th place in 2015, with his best performance coming with a win in the final sprint race of the season in Abu Dhabi. He managed to claim just one other podium at British sprint race last year in a second campaign that saw him claim just five points finishes.

This season will mark the first time in his career that he has not spent a season with the Spanish team in any category after racing with the team in Euroformula Open and Spanish Formula 3 in 2014. He had also previously tested in both GP2 and GP3 at the end of 2016 with the same team at the Yas Marina Circuit.

The Japanese series has long been used as an opportunity to achieve success in motorsport, with past champions including Formula 1 drivers Adrian Sutil (2006), Marcus Ericsson (2009) and current GP2 racer Nobuharu Matsushita (2014).

His season begins with the first race of the nine-round championship at Okayama on April 1-2.