Pietro Fittipaldi will remain in the World Series Formula V8 3.5 series for a second season after making the switch to the Charouz-run Lotus squad, where he will be joined by Rene Binder.
Fittipaldi raced for Fortec Motorsports during the 2016 season and finished tenth in the championship, with his best result of the season coming in the final race of the year at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona when he finished third.
“I really enjoyed working with the team when we met last year for winter testing,” revealed Fittipaldi on formulav8.com. “It’s an extremely professional team, we did two test days and we topped morning and afternoon sessions.
“I felt really comfortable and I’m very happy to drive with them for 2017. 45 years ago my grandfather won the Formula 1 World Championship with Lotus and this is a great coincidence. I’m not competing for the Formula 1 title at the moment, but we’ll give all our effort to win the World Series.
“Thanks to all my sponsors that made this happen, and especially Escudería Telmex and all the people who worked on this project supporting me”.
Binder remains with the team that took him to seventh in the championship in 2016, with the Austrian remaining in the battle for the title until the final round of the year in Spain despite failing to win a race, although he did take five podium finishes.
“It feels great to renew my contract with Lotus 3.5 Team and for the first time in my single-seater career I will continue with the same team, which in my opinion might be even a little advantage,” said Binder.
“2016 was a very important year for me so we just need to stay focus and build on the five podiums that we achieved in Aragon, Paul Ricard, Silverstone and Monza. Lotus has definitely made me a better driver and I want to thank Bob Vavrik and Tony Charouz for their confidence”.
