Photo: Zak Mauger/GP2 Series Media Service
GP2 racer Artem Markelov and Formula 4 driver Kami Laliberte have completed the line-up at top Toyota Racing Series team M2 Competition for the 2016 edition.
The 21-year-old Russian and 16-year-old Canadian join Brazilian Pedro Piquet, Briton Lando Norris, Force India’s Jehan Daruvala and Ferrari’s Chinese protege Guan Yu Zhou in a cosmopolitan six-car assault from the team.
M2 took Lance Stroll to the 2015 TRS crown and won 12 of the 16 races with the brand new Tatuus car.
Markelov returns to TRS for a second straight year after finishing eighth in 2015 but switches from Giles to M2, whose co-owner Jonathan Moury engineered the Russian Time protege in GP2 this year (but takes up a Prema team manager for ’16).
Markelov scored three podiums in 2015’s TRS but also suffered five non-finishes.
Laliberte finished ninth in French F4 this year and entered three ADAC F4 rounds with Van Amersfoort Racing, where he is expected to remain next year.
His fellow Canadian Devlin DeFrancesco will also compete in TRS with an undisclosed team prior to racing in MSA Formula for Carlin.
2016 Toyota Racing Series line-up so far
| Team | Drivers |
| M2 Competition | Pedro Piquet, Lando Norris, Guan Yu Zhou, Jehan Daruvala, Artem Markelov, Kami Laliberte |
| Giles Motorsport | James Munro, Ferdinand Habsburg, Will Owen |
| ETEC Motorsport | Timothe Buret, Rodrigo Baptista |
| Victory Motor Racing | Bruno Baptista |