GB3 Championship runner-up Alex Dunne has confirmed that he’ll move up to the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2024, after announcing a deal with MP Motorsport.
The 18-year-old took last year’s GB3 title battle all the way down to the final race of the season, having won three of the final six races of the campaign, and five in total last year.
That followed up his title triumph in the 2022 British F4 Championship, having also taken the Italian F4 runner-up spot in the same year.
The Irishman's first taste of FIA F3 machinery came in post-season testing last year, topping a session at Imola, but it was at the Macau GP where he proved his credentials by battling from sixth on the grid to second place in the Qualification Race.
Dunne’s graduation means the top-three drivers in the 2023 GB3 Championship have now moved up to FIA F3 for the forthcoming campaign, with five other alumni also on the grid, including 2022 champion Luke Browning.
Dunne said: “I’m very excited to confirm I’ll be racing in FIA Formula 3 for 2024. I’m grateful to MP Motorsport, my sponsors and, of course, my family, for helping to put this programme together.
“It’s going to be an incredibly competitive championship, with 30 cars per race weekend and the best drivers at this level behind the wheel, but I’m determined to learn quickly and progress from there.
“To race on Formula 1 weekends is going to be a new experience for me, but I’m really looking forward to getting going in Bahrain in March.”
“We are truly excited to welcome Alex to our FIA F3 team”, said MP Motorsport’s team principal, Sander Dorsman.
“He has had an outstanding year in GB3 and then, fresh into an FIA F3 car, proved his innate pace at Imola and Macau. His Macau performance in particular was hard to overlook, so we were happy to pounce and snap him up for our final FIA F3 seat. Along with Tim [Tramnitz] and Kacper [Sztuka], we will have three very quick young drivers all eager to prove their point. I’m confident that they will all shine in their debut seasons.”