Photo: Alastair Staley/GP2 Series Media Service
Hilmer Motorsport have expanded into the GP3 Series for 2014, replacing the abortive Russian Time entry into the category.
Russian Time had bought the Bamboo Engineering GP3 squad for the coming year but those plans have now collapsed after the death of team principal Igor Mazepa and subsequent split with the Motopark outfit that operated the team.
Former champions iSport took over the running of the Russian Time GP2 arm ahead of the new season, but the GP3 entry has been transferred to Hilmer.
Like Russian Time, the German-owned team was founded to compete in GP2 last year, and its GP2 team has linked up with Force India for the 2014 campaign.
“We?re delighted to welcome Hilmer Motorsport to GP3 Series,” said Bruno Michel, CEO of the two F1 feeder championships.
“Their rookie year in GP2 Series in 2013 was quite strong with four wins and seven rostrum finishes. This will provide another good link-up to GP2 with five of the nine GP3 teams racing in both series, giving the drivers even more opportunity to move up the ladder. I am confident Hilmer Motorsport will put together a GP3 team that will be ready and competitive for this exciting new challenge”
Team principal Franz Hilmer said: “We are very happy to announce the expansion of our motorsport programme. Since the establishment of Hilmer Motorsport in 2013 we wanted to build up and field a GP3 team.
“Now the opportunity has been presented to us and we took the chance. We would like to thank Russian Time and the GP3 organisation to make this possible so quickly because the new season will start soon.
“The creation of a GP3 team is the logical step in the development of young talents. Our target is to support and teach up-and-coming drivers in GP3 Series and help them to step up in higher racing classes. With the partnership of our GP2 team with Sahara Force India they come closer to become test driver of a Formula 1 team. We all at Hilmer Motorsport will start this new project as professional as we performed in our first GP2 season last year.”
When Motopark split from Russian Time, team boss Timo Rumpfkeil stated that Jimmy Eriksson, Marvin Kirchhofer and Markus Pommer were due to drive for the GP3 arm. With any previous contacts voided, Eriksson and Kirchhofer have since secured seats with Koiranen and ART Grand Prix respectively.
2014 GP3 Series line-up so far
| Team | Drivers |
| ART Grand Prix | Alex Fontana, Dino Zamparelli, Marvin Kirchhofer |
| Arden International | Robert Visoiu, Patric Niederhauser, Jann Mardenborough |
| Koiranen GP | Jimmy Eriksson |
| Carlin | Alex Lynn, Emil Bernstorff |
| Marussia Manor Racing | |
| Hilmer Motorsport | |
| Jenzer Motorsport | |
| Trident | Roman De Beer, Victor Carbone |
| Status Grand Prix | Nick Yelloly |