Photo: formel3.de
German F3 race-winner Emil Bernstorff will be taking Raffaele Marciello‘s seat at Prema Powerteam for the annual non-championship “Formula Three Masters” race at Zandvoort.
As Autosport has revealed, the Ferrari Driver Academy has decided not to enter Marciello in the event, thus leaving the seat open for the German F3 Lotus driver. This came as somewhat as a surprise as Marciello did participate in F3 Masters in 2012, taking second behind the eventual F3 Euro Series winner and current Mercedes factory driver in DTM, Dani Juncadella.
“Since I did a test with Prema Powerteam late last year we have had a close dialogue with them,” said Bernstorff. “I am very happy that I have been given the opportunity to work and race with them at this prestigious event”.
“We were very satisfied with how Emil performed in testing with us and it’s a real pleasure to work with him in a full race weekend. He has good experience in Formula 3 as he entered last year’s European Championship and is currently committed to the German one with very good results.”, added Prema’s manager Rene Rosin. “I’m absolutely sure that he will merge well with the other Prema drivers and will be a frontrunner in the Masters.”
Apart from his 2013 German F3 campaign, which has already yielded four wins for the Brit and sees him in third in the standings, Bernstorff has had previous experience in F3, doing a 2012 campaign in the Euro Series with ma-con with a best finish of third.