Red Bull Junior Team has made a new acquisition with Liam Lawson joining the squad from 2019, while plans for Jack Doohan has been revealed too.
Lawson has had some solid single-seater racing seasons in the lead-up to his triumph in the 2019 Toyota Racing Series where he fended off Ferrari junior Marcus Armstrong in an epic finale when he also won the New Zealand Grand Prix.
After his good showing in Australia and New Zealand between 2015 and 2017 in single-seater racing, Lawson moved to Europe to race in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship in 2018 where he finished second overall.
Looking at his success, the 17-year-old has been rewarded with a place in the Red Bull junior squad with the Kiwi being the ninth member for the 2019 season which has partnered with the Honda Formula Dream Project.
In his first season as a Red Bull driver, Lawson will race in the re-branded Formula European Masters series for Motopark alongside fellow junior Yuki Tsunoda – who is dueling his commitments by racing in the FIA Formula 3 Championship as well.
“TRS has prepared me for another season in Europe,” said Lawson. “Being a five week, back-to-back championship is perfect preparation. We’re getting huge seat time in a similar car to what I’ll drive in Europe against drivers who have more experience than me.
“I will be able to take everything we’ve learned over to Europe and I already have an advantage over those who haven’t done any off season driving. Joining the Red Bull Junior Team is the opportunity our management team have been working towards since we started getting serious.
“Now that we’ve got this opportunity we have to make the most of it and ensure we get everything we can out of it. We’ve got access to the Red Bull training facilities along with their vast wealth of knowledge, advice and contacts. I’ll be living in the UK and will be fully immersed in the Red Bull culture.”
At the same time, the plans for Doohan – son of Mick Doohan – has also been finalised with the Australian to compete in the Euroformula Open series in 2019, although the team for whom he will compete has not been revealed.
Doohan recently raced in the MRF Challenge series’ finale in Chennai and is to race this weekend in the F3 Asian Winter Series’ finale in Malaysia for Hitech GP. Among others, Dan Ticktum and Lucas Auer are already set for Super Formula campaign.
New recruit Juri Vips will race in the F3 series with Hitech GP while Jonny Edgar and Dennis Hauger will compete in the F4 championships with the former doing Italian F4 as his primary series with Jenzer and selected rounds in ADAC F4.
The latter will race full-time in both the series with Van Amersfoort Racing. The final member Harry Thompson will continue to compete in karting. Meanwhile, aside the Red Bull scheme, Fortec has confirmed Cameron Das for Formula EM series in 2019.
