Devlin DeFrancesco will race the #23 MP-Dallara machine for the remainder of the 2018 GP3 season, joining Dorian Boccolacci and Niko Kari at the Dutch outfit.
The 18-year-old will combine this role with his European Formula 3 duties with Carlin, but looks set to at least miss rounds that clash with GP3 events.
Round five of F3 at Spa on July 26-28 takes place at the same weekend as GP3’s visit to Hungary, while the seventh contest at Misano is scheduled at the same time as the Formula 1 paddock visits the Belgian track on August 24-26.
DeFrancesco missed the last round at Norisring due to dental surgery and is 22nd in the current standings.
The landscape around this level of the motorsport ladder is evolving in 2019 with GP3 and F3 merging to become FIA International F3, while Autosport believes that a series involving current F3 cars may be run next year.
“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.
“I’m fortunate [that] I’m part of Carlin also and on some of the free weekends I’ll race FIA [F3] for additional track time.”
He is the third competitor to join the team during this campaign after Will Palmer and Christian Lundgaard took part in the Spanish and French events at Barcelona and Paul Ricard.
A total of seven weekends remain on the GP3 calendar, beginning at Austria this weekend before the season comes to a close in Abu Dhabi on November 23-25.
