Damon Hill's son Josh joins Fortec's European Formula 3 squad
| By Kevin Turner and Marcus Simmons |
Thursday, February 28th 2013, 12:03 GMT |
 Damon Hill's son Josh will graduate to the Formula 3 European Championship with Fortec Motorsport this year.
As predicted by AUTOSPORT last year, 22-year-old Formula Renault race-winner Hill will join Puerto Rican Felix Serralles and Brazilian Pipo Derani at Fortec, whose four-car squad of Dallara-Mercedes will be completed by Russian ex-GP3 racer Dmitry Suranovich.
Hill finished third with Fortec in the FRenault NEC standings last season before becoming a McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award finalist.
"It's a massive relief to get the plan for the year done and dusted," Hill told AUTOSPORT. "To be with a team like Fortec and a championship like European F3 is exciting.
 "My initial goal, when I was aiming for British F3, was to go for the title in the first year because we knew it would be weaker. But looking at the grid for European F3, it's a bit like an all-star junior-driver line-up!
"I'm going to push hard straight away, but I've got to keep in mind there are a lot of second- and third-year drivers."
Both Hill and Caterham-backed Suranovich - who contested the Brazil F3 Open at Interlagos last month - get their first taste of the Dallara-Mercedes in next week's official test at Barcelona.
Fortec boss Richard Dutton said: "Josh really came on with us last year and he's ready to step up. Dmitry hasn't done any mileage with us yet but he looks the part."
Hill also hopes to contest the four British F3 rounds if he can raise the budget. 2013 European F3 Championship line-up so far:
Team Car Drivers
Prema Powerteam Dallara-Merc Lynn/Auer/Marciello/Cheever
Mucke Dallara-Merc Gilbert/Nissany/Wehrlein/Rosenqvist
Carlin Dallara-VW Mardenborough/King/Tincknell/Latifi
Ma-con Motorsport Dallara-VW Andre Rudersdorf/TBA
URD Rennsport Dallara-Merc TBA
Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Merc Serralles/Derani/Hill/Suranovich
Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW Dennis van de Laar/Mans Grenhagen/TBA
EuroInternational Dallara-VW Tom Blomqvist/TBA
T-Sport Dallara-Nissan Spike Goddard/Will Buller
Double R Racing Dallara-Merc Giovinazzi/Gelael/Calderon
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