Devlin DeFrancesco will link up with MP Motorsport for the remainder of 2018 starting at Round 3 of the season at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.
The European Formula 3 driver will take over the seat recently driven by Will Palmer in Barcelona and Formula Renault academy driver Christian Lundgaard at the last round in Paul Ricard.
The Canadian-Italian driver will also continue to run in the European F3 series alongside his GP3 commitments to try and gather as much track time and experience as possible, with an eye on the changes in both series in 2019.
“I was originally asked to race GP3 last year by a few teams and asked if I would consider a few 1 off races this year,” said DeFrancesco.
“After considering changes the F3 and GP3 series are taking for 2019, switching to GP3 seems like the best option for the future.
"It will definitely be tough never having tested the car before but I’m super excited and up for the challenge.
"I’m fortunate I’m part of Carlin also and on some of the free weekends, I’ll race FIA for additional track time. My first impressions of MP are very positive, they seem like a great bunch of guys and definitely work hard, nobody’s more excited to start than I am."
Team Manager Sander Dorsman added: "We are happy to welcome Devlin in our team. His progress in British F4 and Euroformula Open was exciting to watch, and I’m sure that with us he will deliver on that promise.
"As a team, we will be there to help him get on with his first GP3 race weekend, and I’m convinced he will transform the experience into an ever-improving GP3 debut season.”
DeFrancesco's schedule will become busier over the coming weeks with back-to-back races in Spielberg and Silverstone for GP3 and then will follow up with Zandvoort for Euro F3 on July 14-15.
