Alexander Rossi gambles with career in move to World Series by Renault

Alexander Rossi

American racing driver Alexander Rossi has been confirmed to drive for the Fortec Motorsports Ltd team competing in the 2011 World Series by Renault (Formula Renault 3.5 Series) Championship season, choosing to make a lateral move with his career to further his race craft, rather than making the step up to GP2 from GP3 where he raced last year.

Rossi has grabbed the attention of the European motorsport community with his winning performances and race craft. A strong World Series debut in Monaco was followed by an impressive performance in the 2010 post season tests in Aragon, Spain, which saw him top the time sheets. Rossi joins the multiple Championship winning Daventry-based team on the back of a strong 2010 inaugural GP3 Series season, where Rossi finished fourth in the Championship with two wins and five podiums.

Alexander Rossi testing the World Series by Renault car

Fortec Motorsports Ltd was established in 1996 by Richard Dutton. Based in Daventry, UK, the multi-championship winning team has competed in a number of high-profile series including Formula 3, Formula 3000, Formula Renault, Formula BMW and more recently Formula Renault 3.5 Series. The team has an enviable record in motor racing, with eight drivers titles and six team titles to its name.

Rossi, who resides in Marina de Pietrasanta, Italy is currently in Austria as a finalist for the FIA Young Driver Excellence Academy Shootout. After which he'll spend the next four weeks training, working with sponsors and preparing with his team for the first World Series test at Motorland Aragon, Spain on the 8th and 9th March. Following a further three tests in March, Alexander and Fortec Motorsports will kick off the 17-round Formula Renault 3.5 Series championship fight on April 16th-17th at Motorland Aragon, Spain.

Now entering its seventh season, the Formula Renault 3.5 Series will feature 13 teams and twenty-six drivers, all of whom will be attempting to follow in the footsteps of Sebastian Vettel, Robert Kubica, Jaime Alguersuari and Pastor Maldonado to a race seat in Formula 1.

Richard Dutton, Team Principal Fortec Motorsports, commented; "I am delighted to have Alexander racing with us. I have watched him coming through the ranks since Formula BMW and I was impressed by his speed both back then and also now. His debut in 2010 WSR at Monaco and his pace in the winter testing with ISR showed us that he was one to have this year. Now we all look forward to our 2011 championship assault together."

Jamie Dye, Team Manager Fortec Motorsports, commented; "The whole team is really excited and highly motivated to have Alexander on board this season. We have a lot to offer and know that Alexander will be right up at the front, challenging for the title from the start. This season in WSR there are some top drivers to beat and we are confident that we can beat them. Good luck to Alexander from his new Team."

Alexander Rossi commented; "Coming off the back of a number of very strong winter tests in 2010, I was confident that we would be able to find a good solution for the 2011 season. When Fortec approached us to join them for this year's assault on WSR we were thrilled. They have a long-standing history of success in motor racing. My goals for this year remain the same as in previous seasons and I've never been more prepared for Championship winning campaign. I have full confidence in Fortec and their past results are motivation enough to deliver results for them."

Alexander concludes; "We will be aiming to establish ourselves as front-runners immediately at the first test and work to stay there for the remainder of the season. I am already quite comfortable in the WS car, so there is no reason why we shouldn't be scoring points from the start."