Red Bull have signed gamer-turned-racer Jann Mardenborough and he will race in GP3

Red Bull have signed PlayStation gamer-turned-racer Jann Mardenborough to an "intensive driver development programme" and the Welshman will race in GP3 with Arden International in 2014.

His links with Red Bull will mainly involve simulator work with the World Champions keen to harness the knowledge of a driver whose background is in the virtual world, rather than the traditional karting route. "With Red Bull it is going to be predominantly on the simulator and helping to develop their simulator and maybe move it forwards," Mardenborough continued. "They were really interested in me because of where I have come from and the PlayStation side of things so they were quite interested in my thoughts on their simulator. We are going to be working quite closely together throughout the season and it will help me learn the new tracks like Russia and the Hungaroring that I haven't been to before and get me ready for GP3." Mardenborough's development programme should not be confused with the Red Bull young driver programme which has brought Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat in recent years into F1, but the Briton is hoping he can impress enough that he could be considered for a Toro Rosso seat in the future. "That would be fantastic," he added. "I am just trying to push as hard as I can, whether that be in the training, whether that be in the simulator or whether that be in the race car and we will see what comes of it. The Red Bull programme is very appealing to a lot of drivers and whilst obviously the Infiniti Red Bull programme is slightly different, I am hoping that we can get something good out of it." Arden International won the GP3 drivers' title with Kvyat last year, but Mardenborough isn't looking that far ahead just yet. He is, though, hoping to stand on the top step of the podium at least once this season. "I haven't really thought about it. We were pretty strong in the testing, I've just come back from racing in a series in New Zealand in which I finished second compared to the year before when I was down in tenth," he explained. "But I think if we can challenge for some wins - after the first few days of testing we will get a better idea of where we are - but I'd like to think we can challenge for some wins and take it from there really." Red Bull's junior programme is one of the most developed in the world, but the World Champions say they are excited to see how a gamer-turned-racer fares on their programme compared to those taking a more traditional route. "We have been tracking Nissan's innovative approach to motorsport and in particular GT Academy that challenges the status quo of motorsport," Red Bull Racing's driver development manager Andy Damerum said. "The traditional route to F1 of karting and single-seaters is a tried-and-tested success but Nissan and PlayStation have gone down a very different road and started to find some very talented drivers who have been doing all their practicing on a games console. I'm very interested to see how Jann fares on our programme and in GP3 this season and I look forward to taking him under the Infiniti Red Bull Racing wing to further progress his career. " Related article: Miguel Faisca wins Nissan GT Academy 2013