Former W Series racer Vivien Keszthelyi returns to full time racing in F3 machinery after 2019 and joins the Euroformula series with Motorpark.
The wait is over: 20-year old Hungarian race driver Vivien Keszthelyi will return to racing after sitting out 2020, as she announced that she will join front-runner team Motopark in the Euroformula Open championship.
Keszthelyi thus will get back behind the wheel of a F3 car after contesting the W Series inaugural season in 2019 and the Asian F3 Championship in the same year.
The Hungarian was initially selected as reserve driver for the all-female series, but after promising performances in free practice, she was granted a race seat in 5 out of the 7 races.
She scored points at Misano, securing a tenth place.
Keszthelyi's career started in 2014 at the age of 13, when she made her professoinal debut in touring cars in the Swift Cup Europe series – where she finished third overall in her second season. She then switched to the Audi TT Cup and became the youngest ever Hungarian racing driver to score points in an international championship.
Her results were awarded by the German manufacturer, that added Keszthelyi to the Audi Sport Racing Academy, as the youngest and only female in the program.
In 2018, the young prodigy entered the Audi Sport Seyffarth R8 LMS Cup, in what was her GT racing debut at 17 years of age. Her step forward proved once again fruitful and Keszthelyi delivered once again remarkable results in the Audi one make series, winning the rookie standings and taking Vice-Champion title in the overall classify.
Vivien made her formula racing debut soon after, as she joined BlackArts Racing for the Asian F3 Winter Series. She scored five top-ten finishes in the Tatuus T318 car, claiming an eighth place in the first race at Buriram, Thailand. Having prepared for the upcoming inaugural season of the all-female W Series championship, Keszthelyi made it through the Melk and Almeria selection tests, before being announced as test driver.
While the pandemic slowed her down in 2020, Vivien Keszthelyi is now ready to resume her record-breaking progression in the world of motor racing and will contest the full Euroformula Open championship with champion-team Motopark, having completed an extensive testing program with the German outfit throughout 2020.
"I am happy to announce that I will be racing in EuroFormula Open with Motopark this year." – wrote Keszthelyi. "I would like to thank Team Motopark for the opportunity".
She will partner American Jak Crawford, runner up in the 2020 ADAC German F4.
Motopark will also run the Crypto-Tower Racing cars of Nazim Azman, Louis Foster and Filip Kaminiarz.
"After having enjoyed a strong sequence of tests and preparation in winter 2020 and early 2021, she is well prepared for her transition to Formula cars for the 2021 season", reads the Motopark statement.
Euroformula Open will feature a 9-event racing calendar in support of International GT Open, with the first round scheduled for 1/2 May at Portimao, Portugal.
One of the most competitive F3 championships in Europe, Euroformula employs the new Dallara 320 car, unlike other F3 Regional championships. From 2021, the weekend format will feature three races per meeting, with one qualifying session, a reverse grid race determined by the top-6 order and a grid shaped by fastest laps. Two extra points will also be awarded to the driver gaining most positions.
2021 Euroformula calendar:
Round 1 - Portimao, Portugal - 1/2 May
Round 2 - Le Castellet, France - 15/16 June
Round 3 - Spa Fracorchamps, Belgium - 19/20 June
Round 4 - Hungaroring, Hungary - 10/11 July
Round 5 - Imola, Italy - 24/25 July
Round 6 - Red Bull Ring, Austria - 11/12 September
Round 7 - Monza, Italy - 25-26 September
Round 8 - Barcelona, Spain - 23-24 October
Round 9 - TBA, TBA - TBA