It has just been announced that Olli Caldwell will race in the new Formula Regional European Championship for 2019 with Prema Powerteam. After a fantastic 2018 season in European F4, which saw Olli finish third in the Italian Championship and seventh in the ADAC Championship it was only a natural progression for the 16-year-old. Olli’s efforts helped Prema to win the Teams Championship in Italian F4 and there’s no doubt he’ll be looking to carry that success into 2019.
With changes to F3 racing in 2019 FRegional is the first European series run to the FIA’s Regional F3 regulations. The championship is set to take place over eight weekends with three races at each event. The season will kick off in April at Paul Ricard where it will support the European Le Mans Series before heading to Vallelunga, Hungaroring, Red Bull Ring, Imola, Catalunya, Mugello before ending in October at Monza.
After his full campaign in both the Italian and ADAC F4 championships last year Olli has raced at all but two of the circuits on the calendar with Hungaroring and Catalunya being two tracks he will make his racing debut on. It’s certainly a challenge Olli will be relishing given their prescience on the Formula One calendar and how fast he is at learning new circuits.
Olli is the second driver to be announced in the Prema driver line-up alongside his F4 teammate Enzo Fittipaldi. Olli and Enzo battled it out for the Italian F4 title last season which went down to the final round with Enzo eventually coming out on top. The pair will also be in the company of Formula Renault Eurocup racer, Raoul Guzman (MEX), SMP F4 Champion Konsta Lappalainen (FIN) and Isac Blomqvist (SWE) with several more drivers due to join the grid.
It’s set to be a fantastic season for Olli who will enter the next chapter of his Motorsport career. After being nominated for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award at the end of last year with an invite to join Motorsport UK’s Team UK Elite Squad followed immediately after Olli is currently flying with confidence and couldn’t be more prepared for the challenge ahead.
Angelo Rosin – Team Principal: “We are looking forward to the coming season and having Olli with us again will provide us with the stability we need to face a brand-new challenge in the Formula Regional European Championship. He really surprised us in 2018 in terms of speed and consistency which is definitely what we need this year too. We hope to see him carry that consistency and momentum into the season ahead in order to be highly competitive right from the start.”
Olli Caldwell: “I am super excited to be staying with Prema Powerteam for the new season in FIA Formula Regional European Championship after my success with them in Formula 4. We will be looking forward to the same and more!”
You can follow Olli's season right here and through his social media channels @ollicaldwell64