Photo: Renault Sport / DPPI
After much speculation as to which team Eurocup Formula Renault champion Stoffel Vandoorne was going to end up racing for in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2013, the Belgian himself broke the news by announcing that he will be continuing his collaboration with Fortec Motorsports.
“Finally it’s official I will be driving with @FortecM next season in FR3.5! Very happy to join the champions,” said Vandoorne on Twitter. 15 minutes later the information was confirmed on the team’s official Twitter account.
The Belgian rising star will be following in the footsteps of Robin Frijns, who landed a Fortec drive in FR3.5 after winning the Eurocup in 2011 and proceeded to claim the 2012 title in his rookie year.
Vandoorne, 20, has enjoyed a very promising career in single-seaters so far. Apart from his 2012 Eurocup title, where he narrowly edged out RBR-backed Russian prodigy Daniil Kvyat in the last few races of the year, he had also been the 2010 F4 Eurocup 1.6 (now F4 France) champion. In that year, Vandoorne beat French rising star Norman Nato to the title, who, interestingly enough, will also be joining the FR3.5 grid next year with DAMS.