Stoffel Vandoorne has completed a deal to race in Japan's Super Formula this season alongside his McLaren role in F1.

The Belgian comprehensively won last year's GP2 championship, with his success meaning he is unable to return to the series. While he has been promoted to the role of reserve driver at McLaren following Kevin Magnussen's departure, Vandoorne was keen to race as well in 2016.

The 23-year-old has now confirmed he will race for Dandelion Racing in Japan this season, announcing the news via his Twitter account.

Vandoorne had tested a Super Formula car late last season, and will now drive for the team which last won the team's championship in 2012. Seven rounds are provisionally scheduled for the 2016 season, starting at Suzuka in April and ending at the same venue in October.

Christian Horner - The race of my life

Force India winter diary part five - Car build

Key dates for the 2016 F1 season

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Remembering McLaren co-founder Teddy Mayer

Legendary Formula 1 team boss Teddy Mayer passed away on this day in 2009 at…

2 hours ago

Stefano Domenicali lights the way to Milano Cortina 2026

This week, Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali traded the sport’s paddock for a snow-dusted jog,…

3 hours ago

Leclerc slowly embracing ‘super interesting’ side of F1’s new cars

When Charles Leclerc first grappled with the early digital ghosts of the Ferrari SF-26 in…

4 hours ago

McLaren forced to ‘strip down’ MCL40 to chase fuel fault

After Lando Norris debuted McLaren’s new car on Wednesday in Barcelona, the baton was passed…

5 hours ago

No panic at Audi despite testing gremlins: ‘This is why we test’

The pristine asphalt of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has long been the ultimate truth-teller for…

6 hours ago

A first look at Aston Martin’s radical Newey-designed AMR26

Aston Martin finally revealed its 2026 challenger, the AMR26, on Thursday afternoon at the Circuit…

21 hours ago