Force India have turned to Spain’s Daniel Juncadella as reserve driver for the forthcoming Formula One campaign.

Although he won the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2012, Juncadella is a surprising choice given he spent last season out of open-wheel racing by competing for Mercedes in the German touring car series DTM.

However, the fact Force India are powered by Mercedes may have played a part as Juncadella will combine his reserve role with another year in DTM with the German manufacturing giant.

Force India team principal Vijay Mallya said of the 22-year-old from Barcelona: “Daniel is an exciting prospect.

“Over the last few years we have always tried to support young, talented drivers and we will continue down this path by giving Daniel the opportunity to drive on Friday mornings at selected races.”

Describing the appointment as “a dream come true”, Juncadella added: “It’s a fantastic opportunity for me to learn and will hopefully take me a step closer to eventually racing in Formula One.”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.