Carlin have completed their 2015 GP3 line-up with the signing of 2011 GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough.
The Nissan driver, who is already a race winner in GP3 after a sprint race victory in Germany in his debut year, will be reunited with Carlin; the team he competed with in European Formula Three in 2013.
Mardenborough will join Ferrari Driver Academy racer Antonio Fuoco and former Trident driver Mitch Gilbert at the British team.
Since winning GT Academy in 2011 ahead of 90,000 other hopefuls Mardenborough turned his computer racings dreams into on track reality with spells in the British GT Championship, the Blacpain Endurance Series and the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Alongside his GP3 commitments the Cardiff born racer will also compete in the World Endurance Championship racing the Nissan GT-R LM NISMO.
The 23 year-old has said he isn’t fazed by his busy schedule, and is relishing the chance to get started.
“I was thinking at the start of the year that it would be amazing to do both LM P1 and GP3 so I’m very happy and surprised that this has happened,” said Mardenborough.
“The championships are relevant to each other – all racing is – but they do require different skills. GP3 is short sprints so the racing is very aggressive from lap one until the flag, whereas in LM P1 the races are between six and 24 hours long so the ability to quickly change strategy is required along with the obvious need for physical and mental endurance.”
On returning to his old F3 squad he said: “It’s great to go back to Carlin for GP3.
“I made my single-seater debut with them and they are a very professional outfit. I want to be a winner so I’m going to be using what I learnt last year to improve my performance and to challenge for podiums and lots of points.”
Team boss Trevor Carlin is excited by Mardenborough’s potential and believes he can be a race winner from the start.
“Jann completes an extremely strong line-up for us,” said Carlin. “Having worked with him in F3 and seeing him continue to develop in GP3, I have no doubt that Jann will be a potential race winner from the start.
“It’s fantastic to see the path his career has taken; from a gamer at home to a competitive GP3 racer on track and we’re thankful to the GT Academy and Nissan for entrusting us with this next step in Jann’s single seater career.
“Our aim is to retain both the drivers’ and teams’ titles and with Jann, together with Antonio [Fuoco] and Mitch [Gilbert] I think we have a very capable team with which to attempt that.”
