Two more drivers have been confirmed for the 2014 GP3 series season, with Carlin announcing that Luis Sa Silva will remain at the team for a second season, while Koiranen GP announced that Santiago Urrutia has joined the team to race alongside the already confirmed Jimmy Eriksson.
23-year-old Angolan driver Sa Silva had a relatively innocuous season in 2013, failing to score points all year, with a high finish of twelfth in Barcelona, Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps. He joins British drivers Alex Lynn and Emil Bernstorff at the Carlin team for 2014.
“We had a solid season in 2013 so I’m glad to be back with Carlin for another season so we can build on our previous year,” said Sa Silva on the official press release. “I have two new team mates who I’m looking forward to working with and I’m excited to be back in the car next week at Estoril for Official testing.”
Carlin’s racing director Trevor Carlin gave praise to his Angolan driver, saying he was consistent and that he was looking forward to seeing him progress in 2014.
“Luis worked well with the team over the course of last season so we are pleased that he will be continuing his programme with us this year,” said Carlin. “Luis showed himself to be a consistent driver and we look forward to working with him again.”
Uruguayan racer Urrutia is just seventeen years of age, and steps up from the European F3 Open championship where he raced for RP Motorsport and finished fourth in the final standings. He tested for Koiranen at the end of season test in Abu Dhabi last year.
“I am so proud to be part of this fantastic team!” says Urrutia “They have had a really good career so I’m looking forward to working with them and learning as much as possible.”
Afa Heikkinen, the Koiranen GP team manager, was happy to have signed the promising Uruguayan to his team to partner Eriksson.
“Santiago is a talented rookie and after the tests we did in Abu Dhabi, I am confident he will be improving quickly,” said Heikkinen. “This year will be a learning one and we will go step by step with a common goal we will define together. We will do our best to help him to reach our target.”
