Jolyon Palmer has confirmed that he's departing iSport and has signed a contract to race with Carlin for the 2013
GP2 Series.
“I'm very happy to be racing for Carlin in 2013," said the 21-year-old from Horsham. "The team showed good pace this year in their second season in
GP2 and they are hungry to build on that next year.
"My aim is to be fighting for the championship and I'm confident we are in a position to do that,” he added.
It will be Palmer's third full season in GP2, having spent his rookie season in 2011 at Arden before moving to iSport at the start of 2012. A number of technical glitches hampered his early races with the team, but he was able to clinch his maiden
GP2 victory at Monaco in the sprint race and finished on the podium at both
Silverstone and Monza.
"He put in some fantastic performances last season and I believe he will be a regular race winner and title contender next year," said the team's racing director Trevor Carlin in making the announcement of Palmer's signing.
"Jolyon is a very promising young British driver and we're delighted to be able to welcome him into our
GP2 team," Carlin added.
In 2012 - only their second season participating in
GP2 - Carlin's driver line-up consisted of Max Chilton and Rio Haryanto, with Chilton claiming the final feature race win of the season with the team at Singapore in September to add to his earlier maiden win at Hungary.
In the four days of post-season testing split between Catalunya and
Jerez in Spain, Carlin tested Haryanto, Johnny Cecotto Jr. and Spain's F2 star Ramon Pineiro alongside Nasr, before finally settling on making Palmer an offer for a 2013 race seat.
Palmer will be teamed with Brazilian star Felipe Nasr, who won the British Formula Three championship with Carlin in 2011 and put in some eye-catching performances in his rookie season in
GP2 with DAMS this year.
"With Jolyon and Felipe we have an exceptionally talented team," said Carlin. "Preparations are already underway for a strong start to the 2013 season.”