F3: Carlin forced out of European series

Carlin, one of the most successful teams in Formula 3 history, will miss the next two rounds of the F3 European Championship.

The British squad received notification on Monday of this week that Pau Grand Prix winner Alessio Lorandi is not going to continue his program with the team. That came on the heels of American Ryan Tveter being forced to terminate his racing activities.

After Tveter's news, the team was confident of completing a deal with a driver to join Lorandi for this weekend's round at the Nurburgring, but the Italian's decision has forced Carlin to skip this event as well as the Imola races in early October.

Malaysian Weiron Tan has also been contesting recent F3 rounds with the team, but has elected to concentrate his budget on a testing programme with Carlin's Indy Lights operation.

A Carlin insider said that F3 "has always been a cornerstone of the team and will continue to be," and added that the squad intends to return for the Hockenheim finale in mid-October with at least three cars, possibly four, in preparation for an attack on the Macau Grand Prix.

One of the Hockenheim drivers is understood to be GP3 race winner Jake Hughes, who tested for Carlin's F3 team last winter and will be in the middle of an eight-week gap in his GP3 campaign.

Carlin has won 19 races in the F3 European Championship since it was revived in 2012, and carried Antonio Giovinazzi to the runner-up position last year.

Originally on Autosport.com