Joshua Dufek will return to the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2025, joining the Hitech Pulse-Eight team for a second season in the F1 feeder series.
Having had a brief taste of the championship at the last round of the 2023 campaign, Josh contested the whole of the 2024 schedule with German-based AIX Racing, scoring his first point at Monza after a number of strong qualifying and race performances had gone unrewarded. The Austrian racer is already familiar with the Hitech operation, having not only raced with them in the 2022 Formula Regional Asia series, but also joining them for the official post-season FIA F3 tests in Jerez and Barcelona in mid-October. Regularly posting top ten times — including going second fastest on the final afternoon at the Circuit de Catalunya — will only serve as a confidence boost as Josh looks to continue his progress up the international single-seater ladder.
"I'm excited to announce that I'll be back in the FIA F3 championship next season, and am really looking forward to picking up where I left off with Hitech Pulse-Eight,” the 19-year-old commented. “The team obviously has a strong record in Formula 3 and we worked well together throughout post-season testing in October. Although the new FIA F3 car will be different to the one I raced and tested this year, I’m confident that, between us, the team and I have established a solid platform on which to build next season.”
Hitech Pulse-Eight, the current iteration of the renowned Hitech GP organisation, is recognised as one of the world’s foremost open-wheel race teams, with programmes in FIA F2, GB3 and F4 alongside its long-standing involvement in the FIA F3 series. While obviously chasing success, the team has made a point of nurturing the next generation of drivers as they progress up the single-seater ladder, with more than 30 having moved on to higher levels of motorsport. Based at Silverstone since its founding in 2015, Hitech was amongst the first cohort of teams selected to contest the FIA F3 series in 2019 and has won races in the championship every season since. In 2024, Hitech driver Luke Browning remained in contention for the overall title to the final round, before eventually finishing third in the standings.
The FIA Formula 3 Championship was created ahead of the 2019 season, combining the former GP3 and European F3 series to form a defined entry point for young talent to race on the F1 support bill and provide the perfect training ground for the jump to F2 and, ultimately, F1 itself. Each weekend event features two races and partially-reversed grids, which puts the onus on drivers to manage every aspect of the 380hp Dallara-Mecachrome combination in order to maximise their point-scoring potential. More than 40 drivers have already made the jump from F3 to F2 since the series began, and Josh hopes that signing with Hitech Pulse-Eight will add his name to that list. The Austrian, who turns 20 later this month, remains with Peak Performance Management for the 2025 campaign.
“We’re pleased to announce that Josh will be joining Hitech Pulse-Eight for the 2025 FIA Formula 3 season,” PPM director Kevin Korjus confirmed. “His performances in this year’s championship were often masked by misfortune, so we’re looking forward to a fresh start, with a new-look Dallara car, next year. Josh already has a good relationship with the team, and strengthened this during recent test sessions, so we're looking forward to seeing what they can achieve together next season."
Josh and the Hitech team will get their first taste of the new Dallara F3-2025 in pre-season testing, before competition gets underway with the opening round of 10 taking place at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit over the weekend of 14-16 March.
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