Photo: Joe Portlock / LAT Images / FIA F2 Championship
Euroformula champion Marino Sato has signed with Trident for the 2020 Formula 2 season, completing the 22-driver field ahead of the opening pre-season test in Bahrain.
Sato will be team-mates with Roy Nissany, whose F2 return was confirmed along with his Williams Formula 1 test driver deal, although Trident has yet to officially announce the Israeli driver.
Japanese driver Sato stepped up to F2 for the final rounds of the 2019 season with Campos Racing, achieving a best finish of 11th at Monza.
After two low-key seasons in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with Motopark, Sato took a dominant title in Euroformula with the same team last year, even though he skipped one round to compete in F2.
He went on to test with Trident in Abu Dhabi alongside Nissany in December.
?Marino Sato is a young driver with limited experience in a very competitive championship like FIA Formula 2,” said team manager Giacomo Ricci.
“Our technical staff was positively impressed by the quality of his work in the post-season test carried out at Yas Marina last December and will provide its best efforts to help him grow up during the season.”
Sato added: “I really appreciate everyone who?s involved to make this happen. To be racing in here will mean a lot for me, and of course for the future as well so can?t wait to get started.”
The Bahrain test – the only running ahead of the first race later next month – begins on Sunday and runs until next Tuesday.
Formula 2 2020 teams and drivers
DAMS: Sean Gelael, Dan Ticktum
Virtuosi: Guanyu Zhou, Callum Ilott
ART: Marcus Armstrong, Christian Lundgaard
Carlin: Yuki Tsunoda, Jehan Daruvala
Campos: Jack Aitken, Guilherme Samaia
Charouz: Louis Deletraz, Pedro Piquet
MP: Nobuharu Matsushita, Felipe Drugovich
HWA: Artem Markelov, Giuliano Alesi
Prema: Mick Schumacher, Robert Shwartzman
Trident: Marino Sato, Roy Nissany
Hitech: Nikita Mazepin, Luca Ghiotto