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Rising star Luke Browning has signed the biggest deal of his racing career to date after being named as the latest member of the Williams Racing Driver Academy.

The 21-year-old Kingsley-based racer has signed up to join the Driver Academy on the back of a stunning 2022 season, in which he secured the GB3 Championship title with Hitech GP before being named as the winner of the Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year.

That success resulted in Luke earning the chance to move up into the FIA Formula 3 Championship with Hitech Pulse-Eight where he currently sits in tenth spot – scoring a best finish of fifth in race two in Bahrain after an impressive run through from 17th on the grid.

As part of his new Driver Academy role, Luke will work closely with the Williams Racing team to develop his talents through a personalised simulator program at the factory in Grove, whilst there will be various opportunities to spend time with the team trackside during Grands Prix throughout the year.

Luke will bid to follow in the footsteps of drivers including Lance Stroll, Nicolas Latifi and Logan Sargeant – all of were members of the Driver Academy before graduating into F1 race seats.

Luke Browning said:
“I’m really looking forward to being a part of the Williams Racing Driver Academy. A huge thank you to everyone at Williams Racing for the opportunity to shoot for the stars. To be welcomed into the family is a dream come true, the heritage of this team is phenomenal. I can’t wait to see where we can go, our journey starts here.”

Sven Smeets, Sporting Director Williams Racing, said:
“We’re pleased to have Luke join the Williams Racing Driver Academy. He’s a highly talented driver with several major achievements already under his belt, including the 2022 Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award, the 2022 GB3 Championship and the 2020 British F4 Championship.

“Everyone at Williams Racing is looking forward to working closely with Luke throughout the year as he competes in FIA Formula 3 with Hitech Pulse-Eight. He’ll have the opportunity to develop his abilities while providing useful feedback through simulator work at Grove.”

Rising star Luke Browning produced an impressive on-track performance on his debut at the wheel of a Formula E car having been called up by the NEOM McLaren team for the annual Rookie Test.

Luke headed to Berlin during a break in his FIA F3 programme to take part in the test, which took place the day after the German round of the series on the same circuit.

The talented Brit was sixth quickest on the times during the morning session with a lap just three-tenths of a second off the pace and then improved his lap time in the afternoon by two-tenths of a second to end up seventh fastest.

That put him ahead of no fewer then three drivers with F1 race experience in the shape of Daniil Kvyat, Will Stevens and Roberto Mehri.

Rising star Luke Browning will make his Formula E debut later this month when he joins forces with the NEOM McLaren team for the official Rookie Test in Berlin.

The test in the city will be held on the Tempelhof Street Circuit on 24 April, the day after the German double-header, with Luke lining up for the NEOM McLaren squad alongside sportscar racer Charlie Eastwood.

It will provide the Kingsley-based racer with his first experience of a fully electric race car prior to the next event in his FIA F3 programme at Imola in mid-May.

“I’m really looking forward to be jumping into the NEOM McLaren Formula E car,” Luke said.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to gain some experience in very different machinery than usual. I’ll be looking to pick up as much as I can from the successful and experienced team I will be surrounded by.

“It will be a different style of driving compared to what I’m used to – I don’t doubt I have a lot to learn, but I’m eager to pick it up as quickly as possible. I’m really looking forward to the 24th!”

Rising star Luke Browning secured his second points finish of the FIA Formula 3 season despite a tricky weekend on track at Albert Park.

The Cheshire racer made the long trip to Australia bidding to build on a fine fifth place finish scored at the season opener in Bahrain, with the Hitech Pulse-Eight ace storming through the pack from 17th on the grid to open his account for the season.

Things started well for Luke in official practice as he headed the three Hitech drivers on the timesheets, setting a time good enough for sixth place overall as the F3 field sampled the Albert Park circuit for the first time.

That left confidence high going into qualifying but it would prove to be a chaotic affair thanks to multiple red flags as drivers pushed beyond the limits and hit trouble.

Although he ran as high as second at one stage, the truncated nature of the session made it hard for drivers to get into a rhythm, with Luke ending up with the ninth best time.

With the top twelve on the grid reversed for race one, Luke started from the second row of the grid and would dice for second in the early stages – getting ahead of Caio Collet off the line and then slipping ahead of Oliver Goethe before half a lap was completed.

An off for Goethe then brought out the safety car, with Luke chasing team-mate Sebastian Montoya on the restart.

Running over the kerb at turn nine whilst pushing for the lead saw Luke sustain damage to his car and he would then be forced wide whilst defending his position to leave him in eleventh at the flag.

A time penalty for contact then left him classified in an unrepresentative 17th spot.

The second race would see Luke battling hard to track to make up ground from ninth and he survived early contact with Franco Colapinto to run inside the top seven before grabbing sixth from Paul Aron after an early caution period.

Luke was able to maintain his position through the finish – despite another Safety Car period – but was then given a five second penalty after stewards deemed him to have been at fault for the clash with Colapinto, which pushed him back eighth place.

The points scored in race two leave Luke tenth in the standings with a gap in the schedule before the action resumes at the Imola circuit in Italy for round three on the weekend of 19-21 May.

Rising star Luke Browning marked himself out as one to watch during the 2023 FIA Formula 3 season with an astonishing performance on track during the opening weekend of the year in Bahrain.

Luke had secured his place on the grid at the eleventh hour having been confirmed as the final on the grid with the Hitech Pulse-Eight team that carried him to the GB3 title last year.

The Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year kicked off his debut weekend with a strong run to fourth spot in free practice although a more challenging qualifying session would leave him back in 17th on the grid for both races – despite lapping six tenths of a second quicker than in practice.

Saturday’s sprint race would end in disappointment when Luke was forced to retire after contact at turn one following a safety car period damaged his car and left him stranded on circuit.

However, when the feature race kicked off on Sunday, Luke wasted little time in showing his talent as he produced one of the drives of the weekend to storm through the field to cross the line in sixth spot; a penalty for team-mate Gabriele Mini meaning he would ultimately be classified in fifth.

It means Luke comes away from his first weekend in the series heading the Hitech Pulse-Eight challenge in seventh place ahead of round two in Australia at the end of the month.

“We had a really tough weekend to start off with,” he said. “Every single push lap in qualifying I think I was blocked, and then on the lap when I got blocked the least, I made a small mistake that meant I was back in 17th on the grid.

“Things were so close that a few-tenths of a second was the difference between being in the top seven and being 17th, and then we had the disappointment of being forced to retire from the opening race.

“However, in race two, I feel we were able to really show what our race pace actually is, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season goes.”

Luke was full of praise for the team on the back of the weekend, with focus now turning towards round two at Albert Park and a new event for the series.

“I’ve literally rocked up at the first round but Hitech did a great job of making me as prepared as possible, using the simulator back at the workshop,” he said. “We knew our race runs from testing were really strong and thankfully, I could show that in today’s race.

“I think nailing qualifying is crucial going forwards. Luckily we just managed to just sort it out after a tough qualifying but it really does seem to be the key. If you can qualify inside that top twelve and stay in contention on the reverse grid and for both races, you’ll be in a good position instead of having to fight through the pack.”

Hitech Pulse-Eight have announced that reigning GB3 Champion Luke Browning will graduate to FIA Formula 3 for 2023 following a victorious campaign with the team in last season’s GB3 Championship.

The 21-year-old Brit scored five wins with Hitech in GB3 last season, claiming the title at October’s Donington Park finale.

Soon after, he was crowned the winner of the 2022 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award, earning a full test in an Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 team car.

Browning has had a successful race career from his early years, winning the 2020 British F4 Championship courtesy of seven race wins. He switched to a double campaign in ADAC and Italian F4 in 2021, finishing third overall in the ADAC category with six further podiums to his name.

Browning will now step up to FIA Formula 3 with the British outfit for the 2023 season, joining Gabriele Minì and Sebastián Montoya across ten rounds as Formula One support.

“I’m excited to announce I’ll be taking the step up to FIA Formula 3 with Hitech Pulse-Eight Racing,” he said. “We had a fantastic season in GB3 last year. Over the past twelve months I have really developed as a driver with their guidance and professionalism.

“I am very thankful to the people who continuously believe in me and have made this possible. I am under no illusions how competitive FIA F3 is, however, I feel confident in the team and hopefully I can hit the ground running!”

“We are delighted to welcome Luke to our team in FIA Formula 3”, said Oliver Oakes, Director of Hitech Pulse-Eight Racing. “We had a fantastic year with him in GB3, securing the driver’s title with five wins, and we are confident his experience will be of great value to the team.”