Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Hampus Ericsson, the younger brother of Formula 1 driver?Marcus, will enter single-seaters?in British Formula 4 with Fortec Motorsports this season.
Having already missed last weekend’s opening round at Brands Hatch, the 15-year-old will compete for the Challenge Cup competition for drivers contesting a maximum of seven of the 10 rounds.
Ericsson finished second in the Swedish OK Junior class last year, and has contested the World and European championships for the past two years.
In driving for Fortec, Ericsson will begin his car racing career with the same team that his brother did when he won the Formula BMW UK title 10 years ago.
?I?m really excited and happy to race in British F4 with Fortec Motorsports,? said Ericsson. ?I cannot wait to start my first race at Donington Park.
?I did a couple of testing days in November with the team, but I definitely need to build up my experience of the car and that will happen as I do more and more laps.
?This year is very much a learning year. It will be my first year racing in cars. At the moment I?m not looking too far ahead in my career beyond British F4. I need to take things one step at a time, but it would be nice to be overtaking my brother Marcus in a Formula 1 race one day.?
Fortec boss Richard Dutton added:??2017 is very much a learning year for Hampus. He has missed pre-season testing so it?s not going to be easy for him, but we?re looking forward to the rounds at the end of the season to see how much he has developed. The first part of the year will definitely be about learning and building experience.
?Hampus has been very competitive throughout his karting career and I think he has the ingredients to succeed in cars. He set the lap record at?the World Junior Karting Finals in Bahrain and performed very well so there?s no doubting his raw speed and talent.
?He tested with us in Valencia last November. It was his first time in the car, but he impressed. In an ideal world he would have done plenty of pre-season testing, but we?ll do the best we can.
?We have put together a very exciting programme for Hampus and I think he will become part of the Fortec Motorsports young driver programme too.?