Former European F3 Open champion Bruno Mendez will return to the category this season having agreed a late deal to race for Hitech Racing in the British F3 International Series.
The 20-year-old Spanish driver won the 2009 F3 Open title before graduating to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series last year with the FHV Interwetten team. He also raced in Superleague Formula’s visit to Ordos in China but returns to F3 in a bid to re-launch his career after a tough 2010 season.
“Bruno wants to get his career momentum going again after a tough year with Interwetten and he thinks he can run at the front in British F3,” Hitech team boss Ryan Sharp told Motorsport News.
“He didn’t have the budget to get a competitive drive in a higher category this season and he wants to win, so he came to us.”
Meanwhile, Hitech has also confirmed that Riki Christodoulou, who has tested with the team during pre-season, will race one of the team’s cars in the opening rounds of the season as he looks to secure backing for a full-time drive.
Elsewhere ahead of this weekend’s opening round at Silverstone, the grid has been further boosted by Fortec Motorsport’s signing of ex-Formula BMW racer Fahmi Ilyas and T-Sport’s confirmation of Japanese teenager Kotaro Sakurai to contest the newly-named ‘Rookie’ championship.
British F3 International Series entry list – Round 1, Monza
1 Carlos Huertas, Carlin, Dallara-Volkswagen
2 Kevin Magnussen, Carlin, Dallara-Volkswagen
3 William Buller, Fortec Motorsport, Dallara-Mercedes
4 Lucas Foresti, Fortec Motorsport, Dallara-Mercedes
5 Pipo Derani, Double R Racing, Dallara-Mercedes
6 Scott Pye, Double R Racing, Dallara-Mercedes
7 Pietro Fantin, Hitech Racing, Dallara-Volkswagen
8 Riki Christodoulou, Hitech Racing, Dallara-Volkswagen
11 Hywel Lloyd, Sino Vision Racing, Dallara-Mercedes
12 Adderly Fong, Sino Vision Racing, Dallara-Mercedes
15 Yann Cunha, T-Sport, Dallara-Volkswagen
16 Menasheh Idafar, T-Sport, Dallara-Volkswagen
21 Rupert Svendsen-Cook, Carlin, Dallara-Volkswagen
22 Jazeman Jaafar, Carlin, Dallara-Volkswagen
23 Harry Tincknell, Fortec Motorsport, Dallara-Mercedes
24 Fahmi Ilyas, Fortec Motorsport, Dallara-Mercedes
27 Bruno Mendez, Hitech Racing, Dallara-Volkswagen
31 Felipe Nasr, Carlin, Dallara-Volkswagen
32 Jack Harvey, Carlin, Dallara-Volkswagen
41* Bart Hylkema, T-Sport, Dallara-Mugen Honda
42* Kotaro Sakurai, T-Sport, Dallara-Mugen Honda
* Rookie Championship
Watch British F3 highlights from Monza on Saturday 23 April at 8pm (BST) on Motors TV.
Andy Wilkinson
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