BMW Motorsport welcomes Joel Eriksson to the BMW family as an additional junior driver.

Munich (DE), 24th June 2016. The BMW family has gained a new member shortly before the DTM race weekend at the Norisring (DE). The 17-year-old Swede Joel Eriksson will be included in BMW Motorsport’s Junior Programme. He thereby joins the squad of talented racing drivers that up to now consisted of the two winners from the previous years, Jesse Krohn (FI) and Louis Delétraz (CH), and the two newcomers Ricky Collard (GB) and Nico Menzel (DE). Eriksson will be on-site in his new role at the Norisring and will drive the race taxi.

“I’m delighted to welcome another great motorsport talent to our ranks in Joel Eriksson,” said BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt. “We have been watching his development for some time now and he impressed us with his performances during this season. I think that he, like the other BMW Motorsport Juniors, can take the next important step in his development as a racing driver with us.”

Eriksson said: “I am very grateful to BMW Motorsport for the opportunity to continue my development as a racing driver with a major manufacturer. I am looking forward to an exciting and, no doubt, very educational time.”

Joel Eriksson is competing in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in 2016 and has already made it onto the podium three times in his debut season. The next races will be held at the Norisring as part of the supporting programme for the DTM. Eriksson finished second in the ADAC Formula 4 last year. In his role as a BMW Motorsport Junior he will take part in several events this year in order to learn as much as possible about BMW Motorsport and to get valuable insights into the ways the drivers, teams and engineers work on site.