Russian Time has announced its driver line-up for the 2016 GP2 season, with Artem Markelov being joined by Raffaele Marciello.
It will be Marciello’s third year racing in the series, after making his debut for Racing Engineering in 2014. He scored one win and three further podiums in his rookie campaign, ending the year eighth.
Last year he made the switch to Trident, moving up one spot in the standings and picking up four podiums. The former European Formula 3 champion has parted company with the Ferrari Driver Academy for 2015.
The Italian will be racing alongside Markelov this season. The Russian has been retained by the team for a third consecutive year and will be looking to build on the encouraging flashes of speed he showed in 2015, where he finished the Belgium feature race in third.
“I’m delighted to join Russian Time, which impressively won the championship in its inaugural season,” Marciello said.
“I’m hoping that we can combine our experience to mount a consistent challenge for the top positions.”
Svetlana Strelnikova, team principal, added: “I’m delighted to welcome Raffaele to the team. He has shown consistent speed and Artem has grown stronger as he got to grips with the category.
“I’m optimistic that with both drivers having two years’ experience in F1’s feeder formula, we will be able to mount a challenge in what is an ever more competitive series. I’m looking forward to it.”
