Photo: FIA F3 European Championship
American racer Michael Lewis will take the fourth seat at Mucke Motorsport in the 2013 European F3 championship, replacing the DTM-bound Pascal Wehrlein.
Lewis, 22, has raced in international junior single-seaters since 2009, taking fourth in Formula BMW Americas in his debut year. He moved on to Formula BMW Europe the next year, finishing 14th.
In 2011, Lewis joined Prema Powerteam in Italian F3 and fought for the title in his first year, narrowly losing out to Sergio Campana. The Italian squad promoted him to European F3’s predecessor – the F3 Euro Series – in 2012 where he secured four podiums and a win on his way to eighth in the standings.
Lewis, having lost his seat at Prema, was scheduled to return to the championship with the newly-formed Romeo Ferraris, but lost out on the seat to Gary Thompson. Replacing Wehrlein at Mucke, he will have some big shoes to fill, as the German sits second in the standings after the first round, having bagged a win at Monza.
“There is a history of success that Peter Mucke and his team have built, so it gives me great confidence to know I am driving for a very established team. My goal is to go out and win races,” said Lewis. “With the strong support of Mucke Motorsport, this goal can be achieved. It is exciting to finally get back in the car for the second round at Silverstone and start scoring some points. I am ready to give all of my effort for the next event, and I would like to thank Mucke Motorsport and Mercedes-Benz for this opportunity.”
Team boss Peter Mucke added: “We are happy to have Michael aboard now. He has got the potential to fight about podium placings and win races. I am sure Michael can accomplish similar positions as well, not only because he already took part at the Formula 3 Euro Series and the European Championship last year.”
Having run Wehrlein and Felix Rosenqvist last year, Mucke Motorsport finished second in the teams’ standings in last year’s F3 Euro Series, while their newly-appointed DTM rookie was runner-up in the drivers’ championship.