Ferrari protege Raffaele Marciello joins Racing Engineering for GP2
Ferrari protege and 2013 Formula 3 European champion Raffaele Marciello has been confirmed with Racing Engineering for GP2 this season
Swiss-born Italian Marciello, a 19-year-old Ferrari Driver Academy member, won the European F3 crown with Prema Powerteam last year, while Racing Engineering took Fabio Leimer to the 2013 GP2 title.
AUTOSPORT revealed in January that Racing Engineering, which also ran 2008 GP2 champion Giorgio Pantano, was Marciello's most likely destination after Ferrari announced it was placing him in the series.
"I'm really happy to be a part of Racing Engineering," said Marciello, who tested for the squad in Abu Dhabi last November.
"It is one of the strongest teams and I feel best placed and very proud to be with them.
"GP2 is a fantastic platform because you can start learning more about tyre management and because you are also in the paddock close to the Formula 1 environment.
"I am really thankful for the continued support of Ferrari Driver Academy and for the opportunity to race with my new team, I'm sure that we'll do a really good job together."
Marciello's full career statistics on FORIX
Racing Engineering chief Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon added: "I am proud of the choice to race with Raffaele this year and confident that his past experience and support of the Ferrari Driver Academy will be a benefit for Racing Engineering in our targets for the season.
"This confidence is also a result of the efforts and great amount of work that this team has been producing during these last years.
"With this, we are very happy to have among our ranks the current European F3 champion for the 2014 season, something that will motivate us even more to equal, if not improve, the results in GP2 that Racing Engineering had last season."
Marciello will face McLaren junior driver Stoffel Vandoorne in GP2 this year, with the Belgian having joined ART.
2014 GP2 line-up so far: Russian Time Carlin Julian Leal Racing Engineering Raffaele Marciello DAMS Jolyon Palmer Stephane Richelmi ART Stoffel Vandoorne Takuya Izawa Hilmer Daniel Abt Facu Regalia Rapax Simon Trummer Arden Rene Binder Andre Negrao Caterham Alexander Rossi Rio Haryanto MP Daniel de Jong Trident Lazarus Campos Arthur Pic Kimiya Sato
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