Esteban Ocon, Formula 3 champion, will conduct tests for Lotus F1
Lotus F1 program driver, Esteban Ocon, recently crowned European Formula 3 champion, has earned the right to conduct tests with the Enstone team.
Esteban Ocon, a member of the Lotus F1 team’s young driver program since 2010, will test a Lotus E20 from the 2012 season after winning the Formula 3 European Championship title last weekend at Imola.
At 18 years old, the French driver for Prema Powerteam won the title three races before the end of a season that includes 33 races, with 454 points, which is 86 points ahead of Max Verstappen, using a scoring system similar to Formula 1.
« Esteban is a wonderful talent for the future, » said Gérard Lopez in an official statement, the owner of Genii Capital, which owns Lotus and the management structure Gravity. « He has demonstrated that he is a superb driver from our Lotus Junior Team program, we are proud of him and he truly deserves to have any opportunity to take his career to the next stage. »
Ocon will drive the Lotus E20, victorious at the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, for two days at the Circuit de la Communauté de Valence on October 22 and 23. He will prepare this outing on the simulator in Enstone. “I would like to thank Lotus F1 and Gravity Management for this superb opportunity. The support I have received since 2011 has allowed me to win the FIA European Formula 3 Championship against strong opposition, and I am eager to start the next step of my training. Driving an F1 has been a dream, so I can’t wait to get started,” he said.
