Photo: Niels Broekema / DPPA
Monolite Racing has signed Hadrien David for the next round of the Formula Regional European Championship season.
The 19-year-old Frenchman will take the place of Kirill Smal, who is currently 26th in the standings with no points, at the Red Bull Ring this weekend and is likely to race for the team again after that.
David contested the Spa-Francorchamps round earlier this year as a guest driver with ART Grand Prix and took a fourth place finish, and in 2021 and ’22 competed full-time in FREC with R-ace GP. He was championship runner-up in his rookie season, winning two races and taking a pole position, and last year was fourth in the standings with three wins and three poles.
Meanwhile Joshua Dufek’s long-anticipated split from Van Amersfoort Racing has been confirmed, and Jesse Carrasquedo has been announced as his replacement for the next two rounds.
Dufek is currently ninth in the standings with one pole and a best finish of fourth, and last weekend he stepped up to FIA Formula 3 with Campos Racing. He will now stay at that level, as he moves to Euroformula with Motopark’s satellite operation CryptoTower Racing Team.
Carrasquedo will be stepping up to FREC from Formula 4, where he has competed in a variety of series. He started 2023 by coming 18th in F4 United Arab Emirates with R-ace GP, and is currently 16th in Spanish F4 with Campos. The 16-year-old Mexican has also made an appearance in Italian F4 with VAR, and driven for the VAR-linked Monlau Motorsport team in Italy, Portugal and Spain.
“This is a big and exciting step in my career.” said Carrasquedo. “It’s nice to be able to do this together with the team of Van Amersfoort Racing. These two upcoming weekends will be all about learning and gaining experience in the FREC cars. I cannot wait to get started this week in Austria.”