Pierre Gasly will contest the 2016 GP2 series as part of the Prema team's first campaign in the championship.

It is the 19-year-old Frenchman's third season in the Red Bull Junior Team and he leads newcomers Luis Leeds, Niko Kari and Sergio Sette Camara.

"Of course I'm really pleased to carry on with the team for a third year," said Gasly. "It will be another thrilling and very busy season continuing my work as reserve driver for Red Bull Racing but my priority is clearly to win the GP2 series.

"Prema have a great reputation and ability for winning championships and I know that their skills and commitment along with my GP2 experience will give us what we need this season," continued Gasly who turns 20 on February 7th.

"It will be very intense and involve a lot of travelling but I can't wait to get started and I know just how important this year will be for me to take that step into F1. I enjoyed tremendously my work in Red Bull Racing last year, both with a fantastic group of engineers and I gained a lot from talking to Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat."

"I quickly had a great feeling with the Prema team as soon as we started working together at the GP2 Abu Dhabi test last December, extremely professional and experienced. They have won a lot of championships and while they know that moving up to GP2 will be a great challenge we are confident that we can win."

As announced in December the rest of the 2016 Red Bull Junior Team comprises Brazilian Sergio Sette Camara who will contest the European F3 championship with Motopark, Finn Niko Kari who will also contest the European F3 championship with Motopark and Australian Luis Leeds who will compete in the 2016 MSA Formula with Arden.