Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
There will be two new drivers on the grid for the second round of the Eurocup-3 season this weekend at the Red Bull Ring, bringing the grid up to 26 cars.
Drivex School has expanded its line-up to six cars with the addition of Colombian racer Joao Paulo Diaz Balesteiro, better known simply as Joao Diaz.
The 16-year-old came a points-free 25th in the French Formula 4 championship last year as a single-seater rookie, with his highest-placed finish during the season being an 11th place in Pau. He also contested the Spanish F4 round at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit as a guest driver with Drivex, and came away with a 26th place as his best result.
Global Racing Service meanwhile has signed Emely de Heus for this weekend as a stand-in for Nikola Tsolov, who is missing three Eurocup-3 rounds due to clashing FIA Formula 3 commitments.
“I am really happy to join GRS Team for the Eurocup-3 at the Red Bull Ring,” said de Heus. “I’m very happy and thankful to have this chance to learn and gain more experience.”
De Heus is in her fourth year of single-seater racing, and has experience at the Formula Regional level which Eurocup-3 sits at. She came 29th in Spanish F4’s 2021 season with MP Motorsport after graduating from karting, then in 2022 raced FRegional cars in the all-female W Series. De Heus scored a point on her debut and ended the campaign 17th in the standings.
For 2023 she stepped back down to F4 with MP, doing three rounds of the United Arab Emirates championship then a full campaign in the all-female F1 Academy series. In the latter she took a win, a second place and a pole en route to ninth in the points table. Her second season there this year has not gone as well so far, with no points from the first two rounds.