Prema tests new F3 recruits Albon, Olsen, D'Agosto and Maisano
Top Formula 3 European Championship squad Prema Powerteam has tested four drivers who are all in contention for the team's 2015 line-up
London-born Thai Alexander Albon, Norwegian Dennis Olsen and Italian Ignazio D'Agosto all stepped up from the Formula Renault Eurocup for their maiden F3 tests at Vallelunga on Thursday, while the team also ran Italian F4 Championship race winner Brandon Maisano.
Albon, 18, is part of the same Gravity/Lotus F1 junior stable as Prema's current F3 championship leader Esteban Ocon, fellow 18-year-old Olsen (pictured top) is Prema's top man in the Renault Eurocup, and 20-year-old D'Agosto is a driver who team boss Rene Rosin says he has been following for some time.
All three are in the top six of the Eurocup standings, with Olsen in second place, Albon (pictured below) fourth and D'Agosto sixth.
Maisano, 21, is too old to be eligible for the title in Italian F4, in which his main task has been to bring on Prema's rookie car racers Lance Stroll - who won the championship - and Takashi Kasai.
He spent two years in the Italian F3 Championship, taking third in the standings with Prema in 2012.
Maisano, who was faster than the F3 test debutants at Vallelunga, will get another run at the Red Bull Ring next week in Prema's fifth Dallara-Mercedes alongside the squad's regular European F3 contenders.
Also out at Vallelunga were Fortec Motorsport, with new recruit Santino Ferrucci and British F3 runner-up Matt Rao, and EuroInternational with its usual driver Michele Beretta.
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