Red Bull F1 protege Pierre Gasly to Prema's new GP2 team for 2016
Red Bull Formula 1 team protege Pierre Gasly will move to newcomer Prema Powerteam for his second season in the GP2 Series
Gasly, who raced for DAMS in GP2 last year, joins Formula 3 graduate Antonio Giovinazzi in the Prema line-up.
Although Gasly claimed three poles in 2015, the 19-year-old Frenchman was unable to convert any of them into race wins.
Prema team principal Rene Rosin believes he will have learned a lot from his rookie campaign.
"We could not have selected a better driver for our maiden GP2 Series campaign," said Rosin.
"Gasly is an extremely talented and skilled driver who delivered convincing performances in all the championship he entered so far.
"I'm sure that this year, with all the experience he matured in 2015, he will make a further step."
Gasly tested with Prema last winter and sees no reason why he cannot be a title challenger with the team that has dominated European F3 of late.
"It will be another thrilling and very busy season continuing my work as reserve driver for Red Bull Racing but my priority is clearly to win the GP2 series and I couldn't be doing it with a better group of people than the Prema team," he said.
"They have a great reputation and ability for winning championships and I know that their skills and commitment along with my GP2 experience will give us what we need this season.
"I quickly had a great feeling with Prema as soon as we started working together at the GP2 Abu Dhabi test last December, extremely professional and experienced.
"They have won a lot of championships and while they know that moving up to GP2 will be a great challenge we are confident that we can win."
CONFIRMED GP2 DRIVERS SO FAR
DAMS: Alex Lynn, Nicholas Latifi
Racing Engineering: Jordan King
Prema Powerteam: Antonio Giovinazzi, Pierre Gasly
ART Grand Prix: Sergey Sirotkin
Campos: Mitch Evans, Sean Gelael
Russian Time: Raffaele Marciello, Artem Markelov
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