Russian driver Max Snegirev will race in the FIA Formula Two Championship in 2011.
Snegirev joins F2 after racing in British Formula Three for the past two seasons. He finished fourth in the National Class in 2009 before graduating to the main class with Fortec Motorsport for 2010. However, he could only score a single point from the thirty races.
He did enjoy some success towards the end of the season though, when he took part in the final two rounds of the Formula Palmer Audi Championship. A former full-time FPA racer in 2007 and 2008 when he was taking his first steps in single-seaters, Snegirev claimed one win and three podiums from his seven starts at the end of 2010.
From here he took part in all four days of winter F2 testing at Portimao and Barcelona, setting the sixth quickest around the Portuguese Algarve circuit.
Snegirev will be the fourth Russian to take part in the FIA Formula Two Championship, following in the footsteps of Mikhail Aleshin, Sergey Afanasiev and Ivan Samarin.
“I’m really looking forward to the season, and I’m confident I can deliver results,” said Snegirev. “After seeing how the championship was run and structured during winter testing I didn’t hesitate to join, and I’m feeling really good about the season.
“I’ve seen already in testing the high level of professionalism, and with some great tracks this year, equal opportunity for every driver and of course the F1 and GP2 prizes, I feel F2 has very good attributes and is the best platform for drivers to develop.
“I’m not setting any benchmarks though, as a few guys have done F2 for a number of seasons and it’s obviously going to be a challenge. I just want to be competitive, and I already feel good with the car after testing. I had a difficult year in F3 but at the same time I learned a lot, so I am just concentrating on my own goals and I’m extremely motivated.”
Formula Two Series Director Jonathan Palmer commented: “I’m delighted Max is joining F2. We saw at the end of 2010 he was right at the front in Formula Palmer Audi, taking a superb win at Croft. I have seen Max develop enormously from his first tentative races in FPA, which was the first time he ever raced, and am thrilled that his ability has developed so strongly. He is certainly ready to make the step up from F3 now, and F2 will provide him with the best possible learning environment through its unique concept of total equality and data sharing. We have had some very talented Russian drivers in F2 over the past two seasons, and I’m confident Max will continue the trend in 2011.”
