Alex Dunne has impressed on his arrival to the world stage of single seater racing this year.
Offaly's Alex Dunne has been signed to the McLaren Driver Development Programme.
The Clonbullogue racer impressed the Woking-based F1 outfit in winning British F3, challenging for the GB3 Championship as a rookie, and making a points scoring start to his first FIA Formula Three campaign.
Notable graduates from the McLaren young driver programme include seven time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton, and winner of the last grand prix, Lando Norris.
Dunne, who continues his F3 season with MP Motorsport at Imola this weekend, says he's honoured to have joined the team.
His race weekend at San Marino starts with practice at 9am on Friday morning, with F3 qualifying at 2pm that afternoon.
The sprint race gets underway just after 9am on Saturday morning, with the weekend's main feature race starting at 7.30am on Sunday morning.