Haas development driver Pietro Fittipaldi will contest the Japanese Super Formula championship in 2020, the Brazilian resuming a career in single-seater racing that was interrupted in 2018.
Fittipaldi was crowned Formula V8 3.5 champion in 2017 before stepping up to IndyCar the following year with a part-time drive with Dale Coyne Racing.
But a crash in May 2018 at the Spa round of the World Endurance Championship, in which he was racing for the DragonSpeed LMP1 team, left Fittipaldi with two broken legs and a premature end to his season.
The 23-year-old grandson of F1 legend Emerson Fittipaldi returned to action at the start of this year with WRT Audi in the German DTM series, a programme that was complemented by a development and testing role with Haas in F1.
Fittipaldi, who enjoyed a one-off in Super Formula in 2018, will race in the competitive Japanese series for B-MAX Racing woth Motopark, an opportunity that should also allow him to gain additional superlicence points to reach the total required to target a potential F1 drive for 2021.
🇬🇧Really proud to announce I will be racing for B-Max/Motopark Racing in the 2020 Super Formula season!!! 🇧🇷Estou muito feliz em anunciar que vou correr com a B-Max/Motopark na Super Formula em 2020! Muito obrigado aos meus patrocinadores e a equipe por essa grande oportunidade! pic.twitter.com/eVvX88jUXY
— Pietro Fittipaldi (@PiFitti) December 12, 2019
Haas has yet to confirm its reserve and test driver line-up, but Fittipaldi is eager to continue his working relationship with the US outfit, although he recently expressed his hope that the tie-up for 2020 would include proper testing mileage or Friday FP1 outings, and not just simulator work.
However, track time with Haas might be hard to come by for Fittipaldi given the absence of in-season testing and Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen's reluctance to give up their seat on Friday mornings.
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