Female karting ace Garcia joins Renault junior programme
Leading female karting driver Marta Garcia has been added to the Renault Sport Academy roster for 2017, with top Danish talent Christian Lundgaard also signing on.
Photo by: Renault Sport
Spaniard Garcia, 16, was the CIK-FIA Academy Trophy champion and the Trofeo Industrie KFJ champion in 2015 - and finished fourth in the OK class of the European Championship last year.
She made her single-seater debut last year with a part-time schedule in the Spanish F4 championship, and it has now been confirmed that she will tackle the series full-time in 2017.
Danish driver Lundgaard, also 16, will likewise race in Formula 4 this year, albeit he has been assigned to the Northern European SMP F4 category.
Son of former European Rally champion Henrik, Lundgaard was a European champion in KFJ in 2015 and, along with Garcia, was a frontrunner in the OK class last year.
"We are happy to welcome Marta and Christian to the Renault Sport Academy for 2017," said Renault's Cyril Abiteboul.
"Marta and Christian are amongst the most exciting talents emerging from the karting scene.
"Like their fellow Academy members, their selection and their retention is based on their outstanding results and potential.
"Renault Sport Racing is committed to growing its own talent and we will monitor the progress of Marta and Christian with great anticipation."
The announcement of Garcia and Lundgaard brings the total number of Renault Academy members to six for what is the programme's second year.
GP3 frontrunner Jack Aitken and Chinese karting driver Sun Yue Yang were kept on from 2016, while British F4 champion Max Fewtrell and SMP F4 runner-up Jarno Opmeer were named as newcomers to the scheme last month.
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