Colton Herta drops F4 for Euroformula Open F3

Colton Herta has called off his BRDC Formula 4 plans in a favor of a step up into Carlin's new Euroformula Open program.

The son of IndyCar race winner Bryan, Herta had finished third in MSA Formula with Carlin last year and initially planned to switch to the rival British single-seater series as part of the team's BRDC F4 expansion for 2016. But as he would have to miss the BRDC F4 opener at Snetterton at the end of March because he does not turn 16 until the week after the races, Herta has now opted to move into the Formula 3-based series – which starts in late April – instead.

"The F3 car is awesome to drive and although there will be a lot of new circuits for me to learn this year, racing on F1 tracks and historic circuits such as Spa will be fantastic," said Herta.

Team boss Trevor Carlin said Herta's early running in the BRDC F4 car – which is designed to have similar performance to F3 – suggested he was ready for the Euroformula Open move.

"Colton had made a great start in his BRDC testing program and adapted to the increased power very quickly," he said. "When given the opportunity in the F3 car he was extremely impressive and given the fact that he would have been forced to miss the first race on the BRDC calendar, it made sense to move to Euroformula Open."

Herta joins Indian Ameya Vaidyanathan, another graduate from the British junior single-seater scene, in Carlin's Euroformula line-up.

Their rivals will include European F3 convert Julio Moreno at Campos Racing, and Teo Martin Motorsport signings Tatiana Calderon and Nikita Zlobin, who will combine the series with their programs in GP3 and European F3, respectively.

Originally on Autosport.com