Dutch kart star Emely de Heus will step up to single-seaters this year by making her debut in the Spanish F4 Championship, the 17-year-old from Mijnsheerenland having signed to drive for MP Motorsport.

De Heus has already tested one of the Dutch team's Formula 4 cars, at Barcelona in February, before deciding to take the plunge and be part of MP's nine-strong driver line-up in the Spanish F4 Championship.

Her MP team-mates in the ultra-competitive category will be Suleiman Zanfari, Rik Koen, Gil Molina, Dilano van 't Hoff, Noah Degnbol, Manuel Espírito Santo, Santi Trisini and Georg Kelstrup.

“It's great to see my single-seater career taking off now, and it is utterly brilliant it does so in collaboration with MP Motorsport with its headquarters based around the corner from where I live", said De Heus.

"I have known MP since I have been racing on the local kart track at Strijen – and now I am part of the team myself! On top of that, it is the strongest team in Spanish F4 which will only increase my chances of a good debut season in car racing. I can't wait to get started.”

“We are extremely happy Emely will be doing Formula 4 with us this year,” said Sander Dorsman, MP Motorsport team manager, “We have seen her grow up over the past years, at the kart track of course, but also when she visited the workshop along with her father Bert.

"Thanks to Bert, the De Heus name was already on the Mercedes GT3 cars that we raced in the Dubai 24 Hours for many years. Now, Emely herself is a full team member at MP! She's going to do great, I'm sure of that.”

De Heus made a name for herself in the various Dutch Rotax Max Karting classes in recent years, taking several wins and podiums in the senior class in which she raced for the past three seasons. She also performed well at Benelux and European level.