Palou joins Hitech for 2018 European F3 season

Palou, 20, will make his debut in the championship and will return to F3 racing in Europe for the first time since starting his career in Euroformula Open in 2014.

A GP3 regular in 2015 and 2016, the Spaniard enjoyed an adventurous 2017 campaign, which started in Japanese F3, but ended with racing in both Formula 2 and Formula V8 3.5.

He shone in both, leading the majority of the F2 sprint race at Jerez before fading late on, but still matching his feature race result by taking eighth. In addition, he won and took further two podiums in Formula V8 3.5.

Palou also took part in the post-season Super Formula rookie test, but has instead ended up in European F3 for 2018.

"I'm super excited to compete in the FIA Formula 3 and even more excited to be joining Hitech GP," said Palou.

"I know that both, the team and I, are hungry to fight for the championship together. The winter tests went really well and I am looking forward to racing back in Europe next year."

Hitech boss Oliver Oakes added: "It’s great to have Alex joining the team. I have followed him over the years and he has consistently showed that he is an extremely young, quick and competent driver.

"He spent this season in Japanese F3. His one off appearances in Formula 2 in Abu Dhabi and the recent Rookie Test in Super Formula showed he has something special.

"We are looking forward to giving him the chance of a complete programme to mount a challenge for the FIA F3 Championship."

Palou is the eighth addition to the 2018 European F3 grid and the second driver announced by Hitech, following BRDC F3 champion Enaam Ahmed.

2018 European F3 line-up so far:

Team	Drivers
Carlin	Devlin DeFrancesco  Jehan Daruvala
Prema	Marcus Armstrong  Robert Shwartzman
Motopark	Fabio Scherer  Dan Ticktum
Hitech GP	Enaam Ahmed  Alex Palou