2019 British F3 champion Clement Novalak, 2017 British F3 championship Enaam Ahmed and race winner Cameron Das will return to the Surrey based team for the 2020 season.
Novalak, who has raced with Carlin for the last two seasons, makes the step up to FIA F3 having clinched the 2019 British F3 Championship. The 19-year-old claimed two wins and eight podiums last season on his way to being crowned champion. The reigning British champion starts only his third season in single-seaters as he takes on the challenge of the FIA F3 Championship. Novalak had his first experience of the FIA F3 machinery in the post season tests in Valencia last October.
Joining Novalak will be Ahmed, also a former British F3 Champion with Carlin. The BRDC Superstar broke the record for the most wins in a season during his 2017 championship campaign with an impressive 13 victories and returns to Carlin following a race winning season in Japanese F3. Ahmed finished third in the 2019 Japanese F3 Championship, taking two wins in the process. The 20-year-old has some experience of the current F3 car having competed in last year’s Macau Grand Prix.
Completing Carlin’s line-up, Das makes a very welcome return to the team, following two successful campaigns in British F3 and EuroFormula Open. The American racer who has race wins in British F3 and Toyota Racing Series to his name, started off his single-seater career by winning the F4 USA Championship. The 19-year-old also holds a special place in Carlin’s record books, being the driver to have recorded the team’s 1000th podium back in the 2018 season.
Speaking about moving up to FIA F3 with Carlin, Novalak said “I’m very happy to be back with Carlin for another year and thrilled to be taking on the FIA F3 grid with them. I’m really excited to be getting back out on track soon and getting this season started.”
Fellow British F3 champion Ahmed said “I’m glad to be home. I can’t think of a team I trust more than Carlin. They are family, and quite simply if I’m going to win, it’s only going to be with Carlin.”
Completing the team’s line-up, Das added, “I’m ecstatic to be back with Carlin this year. Although it’s a new championship, I already know most of the Carlin team members so I feel right at home. The car looks mega too in all aspects. I’ve been itching to try out a V6 with DRS, so the Bahrain test can’t come soon enough. Even with just sim experience, I’ve found this new generation International F3 very different to what I’m used to, but I’m certainly up for the challenge. I’d like to offer a huge thank you to my sponsorship partners this year, and to the Carlin team for making this dream a reality.”
Speaking about the team’s FIA F3 line-up Trevor Carlin added, “I’m extremely happy to have three drivers we know so well with us for the 2020 FIA F3 season. We know what each of them are capable of, we know how they work, how they like to set-up a car and all of these elements will help us as we head into the season. We made some really big steps forward with the car towards the end of 2019 and in Macau and I’m looking forward to working with Clem, Enaam and Cam to build on this further in 2020. We’re very proud once again to do that as Carlin Buzz Racing and thank Buzz for their support of our FIA F3 team.”
The Carlin trio will hit the track together for the first time this week, as pre-season testing gets underway in Bahrain from 1 – 3 March. For Das it will be the first chance to experience the new generation of FIA F3 car which was introduced last year.
Bahrain will also host the first race of the season from 20 – 22 March.