Van Dam to make Euro Series debut

The Dutch driver will replace Jonathan Summerton at the Volkswagen-powered team, where he will join Maximilian Gotz for the final two races of the year on October 13-14.

"I'm very happy and proud to be able to make the step-up to the Formula Three Euro Series so soon with Volkswagen," said van Dam, who admitted that he is preparing for stiffer competition than he faced in the German series this year.

"It's a fantastic feeling to know that my performances in the German Cup have been noticed, but the pressure of competition is significantly greater in the European series," he added.

"The team is new to me, and the track is new to the team. Nevertheless, I hope that we can spring a surprise."

Volkswagen motorsport director Kris Nissen said that he was pleased with the progress of the new engine so far, but he added that a lot of work will be going into the unit over the winter.

"We can be satisfied with the results of our test races to date," he said. "We run in the top 10 at every track, and we aim to continue this trend at Hockenheim.

"The intensive development work on our engine continues apace during the winter break in order to offer more F3 teams a potential race-winning power unit in the forthcoming year."