Devlin DeFrancesco graduates to Euroformula Open with Carlin
The 16-year-old had an impressive debut year in single-seaters and will be stepping up to the Euroformula Open Championship – formally known as the Spanish Formula Three Championship – with his team Carlin.
Away from his career in auto racing, he is enrolled at Haileybury, an Independent Boarding School, in Hertfordshire, near London, despite being born in Toronto and growing up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
However, he left the US in pursuit of his dream to become a racing superstar, like his idol Ayrton Senna.
He has been racing since he was six and prior to graduating to Euroformula, raced for the Surrey-based Carlin squad in the F4 British Championship this year, helping them win the Teams' Cup and narrowly missing out on the drivers' title despite three wins and 10 podiums.
But the step up to Euroformula Open only shows the progression the young man is making and he is looking forward to the new challenge.
"I'm really looking forward to getting going and am very happy to continue my partnership with Carlin, who have offered me a huge amount of support.
"It will be a challenge, but I've been working very hard so that I'm in the best possible position when the season gets underway," he said.
Carlin are one of Britain's most successful racing teams, having won four times in their maiden Euroformula Open campaign in 2016, and DeFrancesco is confident he can continue the team's fortunes next year.
"It was a very promising campaign for the boys in blue and the way they adapted so quickly to Euroformula Open demonstrates the amazingly high level this team performs at.
"They had an awesome second half of the year, winning four of the last eight races, and I'm sure that we'll be at the front fighting for victories at every round in 2017."
And the 16-year-old met with Team Principal Trevor Carlin, who is delighted to be continuing that partnership for next season.