Jazeman Jaafar will remain in Formula Renault 3.5 for a third season in 2015, moving to Fortec to partner Oliver Rowland.
Jaafar drove for Carlin and ISR in his previous FR3.5 campaigns, taking three podium finishes so far and 10th in last year’s championship, before testing for Fortec during the off-season.
“I had a really good test with the team in the winter, settling in really quickly and establishing a good rapport with everyone,” said the 21-year-old Malaysian. “It’s great to be getting back in the car with the team at Jerez this week and I hope that we can have a strong showing and a productive test.
“Having Oliver as a teammate will be good for me, too, as I didn’t have a teammate last year and he has FR3.5 experience, so I have no doubt he’ll be quick as well.”
Fortec has finished second in the FR3.5 teams’ championship for three of the past four seasons, and ran Robin Frijns to the 2012 drivers’ title.
Jaafar was a race winner in British Formula 3 before moving into FR3.5, and finished fifth in the Spa 24 Hours with HTP Mercedes last year alongside his open-wheel program.
Fortec managing director Jamie Dye added: “We’ve watched him come through the ranks of the sport and have been impressed with his performance. We wanted to sign an experienced FR3.5 Series driver and after a strong test with Jazeman over the winter where he fitted in well and gelled quickly it was good to be able to secure him for 2015.”
FR3.5 LINEUP SO FAR
DAMS
Nyck de Vries, Dean Stoneman
Fortec Motorsports
Oliver Rowland, Jazeman Jaafar
Arden Motorsport
Egor Orudzhev, Nicholas Latifi
Zeta Corse
Facu Regalia, TBA
Lotus
Meindert van Buuren, Matthieu Vaxiviere
Strakka Racing
Gustav Malja, Tio Ellinas
AVF
Beitske Visser, Alfonso Celis
Tech 1 Racing
Aurelien Panis, Roy Nissany
International Draco Racing
Pietro Fantin, Bruno Bonifacio
Pons Racing
Roberto Merhi, tba
Carlin
Tom Dillmann, Sean Gelael
Comtec Racing
Yet to announce any drivers
