Photo: Peter Lim/Meritus.GP
Formula 4 South East Asia champion Presley Martono will step up to race in Eurocup Formula Renault this year with Mark Burdett Motorsport.
The 16-year-old Indonesian claimed?the inaugural F4 SEA title in January after taking nine wins in his maiden car racing campaign out of karts.
He was previously second in the European junior karting championship in 2015.
Martono will be joined by former AVF driver Julia Pankiewicz in a two-car team at Mark Burdett Motorsport, which is stepping up to compete in the Eurocup on a regular basis for the first time having concentrated on the British and Northern European Cup (NEC) championships in the past.
“Mark Burdett Motorsport has been racing in Formula Renault 2.0 since the introduction of the category in 2000, competing in the UK and NEC, and now the team is ready to step-up into Formula Renault Eurocup,” said team principal Mark Burdett.
“We are delighted Julia and Presley will be racing for the team this season which we hope will be a strong and competitive year.
“Julia tested with us over the winter and made great progress, working closely with her engineer and driver coach.
“Presley has a good background, both in karting and from winning the South East Asia Formula 4 Championship ? we?re looking forward to working with both drivers to achieve our goals.”
Eurocup field reaches 30 drivers
The number of drivers confirmed for this year’s Eurocup is now up to 30 ahead of the first official pre-season test at Magny-Cours on March 15.
Fortec Motorsports has recently completed its four-car line-up, with one of its latest signings being?Australian Alex Peroni, who won last year’s V de V Single-Seater Challenge in a Formula Renault and stood on the podium on his Eurocup debut with TS Corse at the final round of 2016 at Estoril (he was eventually classified fourth after a penalty for another driver was rescinded).
The team has also recruited Malaysian driver?Najiy Ayyad – who came third in Asian Formula Renault last year – to join Alexey Korneev and Frank Bird in the team.
AVF has also signed a fourth driver in Swiss racer Gregoire Saucy, who came fourth in V de V last year and joins Henrique Chaves, Axel Matus and Rodrigo Pflucker at the Spanish squad.
Eurocup Formula Renault grid so far
Josef Kaufmann Racing: Sacha Fenestraz, Yifei Ye, Luis Leeds
Tech 1 Racing: Gabriel Aubry, Max Fewtrell, Thomas Maxwell, Thomas Neubauer
R-ace GP: Max Defourny, Robert Shwartzman, Will Palmer, Raul Guzman
AVF: Henrique Chaves, Axel Matus, Rodrigo Pflucker, Gregoire Saucy
Fortec Motorsports: Alexey Korneev, Frank Bird, Alex Peroni, Najiy Ayyad
JD Motorsport: Alexander Vartanyan, Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer, Sun Yue Yang
Mark Burdett Motorsport: Presley Martono, Julia Pankiewicz
MP Motorsport: Richard Verschoor, Jarno Opmeer, Neil Verhagen
Arden Motorsport: Dan Ticktum, Zane Goddard, Ghislain Cordeel