Martsenko, Stockinger stay in FR3.5

Lotus Formula 1 team protege Marlon Stockinger and Russia's Nikolay Martsenko will both stay on in Formula Renault 3.5 for 2014.

Stockinger will remain with the Lotus-branded Gravity-Charouz team with which he made his series debut last year, taking 18th in the standings after moving up from GP3.

Martsenko switches to Comtec for his third year of FR3.5, having previously driven for BVM Target and Pons. Although Martsenko has only managed one top-five finish in FR3.5 so far, Comtec team manager Phil Blow believes there is more potential to be extracted this year.

"We have spent a significant amount of time evaluating Nikolay's progress," said Blow. "He impressed in post-season testing last year, where he was a regular in the top five.

"We felt confident enough in his ability and potential to offer him a race seat with a view to challenging for race wins and ultimately the 2014 championship."

Stockinger will be joined at Lotus by Formula Renault 2.0 graduate Matthieu Vaxiviere. The team won twice with Marco Sorensen last year.