Dutch driver Tijmen van der Helm will move up to the FIA Formula 3 Championship with MP Motorsport this year, allowing the 17-year-old talent from Den Hoorn to showcase his abilities during Grand Prix weekends.
For his third car racing season, Van der Helm has decided to rejoin Dutch team MP Motorsport with whom he competed in the 2019 Spanish Formula 4 Championship. For his upcoming attack on the F3 series, Van der Helm will continue to be supported by the Dutch federation’s TeamNL programme.
His F3 team-mates will be Alpine juniors Victor Martins and Caio Collet, against whom Van der Helm raced in the Formula Renault Eurocup last season. Martins and Collet were both announced this past Wednesday.
“I am very happy to be a Formula 3 driver with MP Motorsport in 2021,” said Van der Helm, “This will be a very important step in my career, as Formula 3 is the category where the very best young single-seater talents go head-to-head. It's exactly the place where I need to show what I’m capable of.
"Furthermore, it’s a great prospect to be so close to Formula 1 – seeing and hearing those cars will add something special to each and every race meeting. Moreover, it is great to return to the old nest. I have wonderful memories of my year with MP in the Spanish F4 Championship, so if it is up to me we will create more good memories this year.”
“It's fantastic news Tijmen will be driving with us again,” said Sander Dorsman, team manager of MP Motorsport, “I'm looking forward to working together as we did in 2019. With Tijmen, Victor and Caio, our Formula 3 line-up consists of three very fast and talented rookies who will start the season hungry for success. I'm very curious to see how they will challenge each other to get the best out of each other. I know one thing for sure, this will be an amazing year.”
Van der Helm won the 2017 Rotax Max Challenge Karting Grand Finals in the Junior category, finished second in the 2017 CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy and then raced to 10th in the 2018 CIK-FIA World Championship before making his car racing debut in 2019.
In Spanish F4, Van der Helm recorded eight podium finishes with MP Motorsport to finish fourth in the final standings. In 2020 the TeamNL driver competed in the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand and Formula Renault Eurocup, managing to claim podiums in both championships.