The British F3 International Series is set to gain a new team in 2010 after Teamcraft Motorsport revealed plans for a two-car entry into the series next year.

The Silverstone-based team has been set up through a new partnership between technical director James Robinson and team manager Les Jones and is set to field a pair of Mygale-Mercedes for its debut campaign.

Formula Renault UK title winner Dean Smith carried out the initial shakedown of the first car at Silverstone.

“We've brought together a first-class team of people and believe that with our experience and expertise we can be a major player in British F3,” Robinson said. “The Mercedes-Mygale package, although unloved by many, is already proven as a race winner and in our hands we are confident we can be competitive. We've started our programme with the shakedown of the first car and completed 89 trouble free laps at the end of the day.

“Dean has been fantastic, showing great maturity in his approach and providing us with good feedback. Obviously it's our first time out having basically put a new car together from scratch, so it's all new for us, but we ran reliably and were competitive both in the wet morning and drier afternoon conditions.

“We're not truly able to gauge our performance at the moment as the real competition is all in Macau at the moment, so we'll have to wait until we get out on a track with them. Our development programme starts now, so we'll be putting our efforts into extracting all the potential performance in the car over the coming months.

“We've set out to be winners and aim to do this within the first year, not just targeting a race or two, but plan to challenge for the championship podium. We've put together a package which we believe can deliver the results, not only in terms of the car and engine but also with the people and the infrastructure. It's a very exciting new project for us and we're looking forward to next season.”