Jolyon Palmer has joined the Carlin team for his attack on the 2013 GP2 Series.
Carlin will be the third different British outfit that the 21-year-old has raced for in as many campaigns in the category. He completed a difficult rookie season with Arden International in 2011 before switching to iSport International for 2012.
This year he claimed his maiden victory in the sprint race at Monaco before taking further podiums at Silverstone and Monza on his way to 11th in the standings, one position behind Felipe Nasr who will be his teammate in 2013. Palmer did not test for Carlin post-season, but did spend a day with them at Barcelona at the end of 2011.
“I’m very happy to be racing for Carlin in 2013,” said the man from Horsham in West Sussex.
“The team showed good pace this year in their second season in GP2 and they are hungry to build on that next year. My aim is to be fighting for the championship and I’m confident we are in a position to do that.”
In Palmer and Nasr, team boss Trevor Carlin has two drivers that are aiming for the title and will be amongst the favourites when the 2013 season gets underway.
“Jolyon is a very promising young British driver and we’re delighted to be able to welcome him into our GP2 team,” said Carlin, whose team ran Max Chilton to fourth in this year’s drivers’ championship.
“He put in some fantastic performances last season and I believe he will be a regular race winner and title contender next year. With Jolyon and Felipe we have an exceptionally talented team, and preparations are already underway for a strong start to the 2013 season.”
Carlin are the first team to announce both their drivers for 2013, with Rapax and newcomers MP Motorsport the only other squads to have announced any drivers so far, in the shape of Stefano Coletti and Daniel De Jong respectively.
