Russian Time GP2 squad adds Ghiotto

The Russian Time GP2 team has signed Luca Ghiotto to join the returning Artem Markelov for the upcoming GP2 Series. Ghiotto, who won the sprint race in Malaysia during his rookie season of GP2 with the Trident team, will replace Raffaele Marciello on the Russian squad.

"Let me firstly thank all at Russian Time for the great opportunity they have offered me," said Ghiotto (pictured), who graduated to GP2 after finishing runner-up to current Force India F1 driver Esteban Ocon in the 2015 European F3 series, where he took five victories. "Having crossed their cars a few times in 2016, I know how good they are. I think we have great potential to develop together."

Markelov returns for a fourth season in GP2 with Russian Time, having scored his first series win in the feature race at Monaco last year.

"We made an important step last year," Markelov said, "with a win and a top-10 finish in the championship. The GP2 series is highly competitive and I’m looking forward to doing even better in 2017 and challenging for more wins and hopefully becoming a consistent front-runner."

Team boss Svetlana Strelnikova added: "The fact that four different teams have claimed the title in the past four seasons is a good illustration of just how competitive the series is. We are all hugely looking forward to it."