Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Eduardo Barrichello, son of two-time Formula 1 world championship runner-up Rubens, will make his European racing debut this year with JD Motorsport in Formula Regional European Championship.
The younger Barrichello spent his karting career in the United States, and has also done most of his car racing there since moving into single-seaters in 2018.
He spent one year in US Formula 4, then drove in USF2000 for two seasons. In 2020 he won three races and came second in the USF2000 points with Pabst Racing, and tested the team’s Indy Pro 2000 car as he evaluated his options for 2021.
“I am delighted for the agreement reached with JD Motorsports, and I cannot wait to start my European career with the team,” said the 19-year-old.
“This is set to be a really interesting season, and I am really looking forward to racing on so many venues that made motorsports history.”
The Brazilian has raced in his home country before, joining his father in a Sprint Race Brasil event which he won in.
“We are very happy for the agreement reached with Eduardo,” JD Motorsport’s team principal Roberto Cavallari added.
“Watching him in the USF2000 series, he was really competitive. We will work hard to get him to adapt to our car quickly in every circumstance, so to be equally successful in Europe too. I thank all his staff and family for choosing JD Motorsport, identifying our operation as the most suitable environment for Eduardo’s technical and human growth in his first European experience”.
Barrichello is the fourth driver to commit to the new era of FREC, which will use Alpine-branded Renault engines after fellow Regional Formula 3 series Formula Renault Eurocup came to an end last year.
Reigning FREC champion team Prema has signed Adrian Campos’s protege David Vidales, who made a winning start to his single-seater career with JD Motorsport in the Eurocup in 2020, and R-ace GP has signed French F4 graduate Isack Hadjar and 2019 British F4 champion Zane Maloney.