Italian F3 Series 2009 Discussion

[Go_For_Pole]

italiaracing on their weekly web-magazine are reporting that top teams like Prema, JD, Cram, Eurointernational (with Mygale chassis no less) and Alan are looking at entering the championship. If half of them do enter, it will be mega!

[gomick]

would be something if the championship returned to its glory days...

[chunterer]

Mygale against Dallara in Italy?!!

Yes that would be something. The Dallara's haven't had a threat over there since.... er.... Reynard?

[N.A-D.R]

This is going to be a big f3 series again, as Ferrari are now into it. We will see bigger names.

[Go_For_Pole]

Originally Posted by chunterer

The Dallara's haven't had a threat over there since.... er.... Reynard?

No, there was a Lola car run by Coloni more recently. It did ok but Italy is definately Dallara land.

[Valker]

That Lola-Dome did "ok" indeed. Toni Vilander skipped three races because Coloni started their season in Euroseries but still finished 1st winning 6 of 11 races (and took 7 poles and 6 fastest laps)... Ombra driver Matteo Cressoni scored tie with Vilander and was crowned as champion for a reason I don't know.

[META4]

The story about Vilander not crowned champion was because the italian formula 3 regulation says that the driver has to enter all the events of the season to be crowned champion, as you metionned it ,he skipped the 3 first meetings so even having more points than the second ,Vlander has not been crowned italian champion

[strider]

Originally Posted by META4

The story about Vilander not crowned champion was because the italian formula 3 regulation says that the driver has to enter all the events of the season to be crowned champion, as you mentioned it, he skipped the 3 first meetings so even having more points than the second ,Vilander has not been crowned italian champion

That's one of the most ridiculous rules I've ever heard! Sometimes drivers can't get a budget together until after the season has started, so if Toni was one of those and still scored the most points, all the more credit to him.

In fact, on that basis Alvaro Parente would not have been British F3 champion in 2005, because he missed the first and last meetings!

[Alex K]

So what was the rule on Alex Mueller than? Why was he penallized so many times and couldn't fight for championship?

IMO they can have Ferrari as the seat giver to the champion or top three, but they're way behind F3ES and BF3, and they shouldn't even be compared to EF3OS (SF3) and ATS Formel 3 Cup.

[silente]

As about Vilander, in 2004, rules said that drivers had to take place at least at all the races minus 3 events. And Toni was out just for that third event.

Alex Muller raced all year long with a car which probably was out of rules on several technical matters. Marschalls asked to check his car in Monza after a protestation but his team manager refused to give authorization.

Alex was probably one of the fastets drivers anyway, but his team was obviously said to be irregualar all year long.

Anyway, i work as race engineer in Formula 3 and next year i am going to work in italy.

I have to say, i don't know anything about EuroSeries cause i have never seen a race, but i worked from 2006 to 2008 in German Cup and i had some British Races in 2007 and 2008: British Champ is surely one step forward than all the others, but in my opinion German Cup is not better than italian Champ both about drivers level and tech level (they are going to use old chassis again).

Moreover Italian Champ is a lot cheaper, so it could be a good first step before to go in England or EuroSeries.
Or, now that Ferrari is partecipating, it could be in my opinion also a good Field anyway. Somebody says Mirco Bortolotti is now under "Ferrari's hands" after his test...

[Go_For_Pole]

Prema is indeed back in Italian F3

The link is in Italian but a rough synopsis is that there is a number of teams from Italian FR2000 that will switch back to Italian F3. Cram and Alan are also mentioned as possible entrants here.

[strider]

I've always liked Prema, so if they're switching back from Italian FR2000 to F3, that's good news.

At some point they may have to accept current cars, because that's the main reason why Ombra have switched to BF3

[META4]

italian F3 runs with Dallara F308 AFAIK, but running all the same FTP Engine

i reckon the reason why Ombra switched to BF3 was because Mugen needed a team in BF3 after T-Sport switched to VW Engine

[gomick]

they got a new points system too...

"Points will be awarded to the first ten drivers of both races, but more importance will be given to race one's results according to the following scoring mechanism 20,15,12,10,8,6,4,3,2,1. The poleman will be awarded an additional point, while race two points will be the following 13,11,9,8,6,5,4,3,2,1".

[Go_For_Pole]

... and that's because the top 6 of the 1st race will start the 2nd in reverse order.

[gomick]

well, there you go - hope it really does become a top series once again...

[Go_For_Pole]

What is happening in F3 italy is sureal. RC Motorsport also announced today their return to the series. Which is good news. Problem is up until this point there is ZERO drivers confirmed which has something to do with the prices quoted which are higher even than F3 Spain. Go figure.

[Go_For_Pole]

The Glorioso brothers are the first two drivers to be confirmed and will run with their own "Team Gloria" team.

About the rest of the grid, preseason testing will start for some teams this week (Varano and Misano) so we should get an idea of who will run with which team.

[racecontrol]

Third driver confirmed is Cicognani with Ghinzani.... but for the rest of the field???!?

[Go_For_Pole]

hmmm, you got inside info then because as of yet this news item is not public anywhere.

As for the rest of the grid, Zampieri will test for RP at Misano and as far as i know the team will have another two drivers there.

[racecontrol]

well... Cicognani news was on AutoSprint magazine this week...

[Go_For_Pole]

Well, that explains Considering this it's kind of amazing that no website picked it up.

[Go_For_Pole]

Times from Misano (stopandgo):
1. Daniel Zampieri (RP Motorsport) 1’33"100
2. Federico Leo (Team Ghinzani) 1’34"000
3. Michele Faccin (Corbetta) 1’34"200
4. Alessandro Cicognani (Team Ghinzani) 1’34"400
5. Salvatore Cicatelli (Corbetta) 1’34"430
6. Valerio Prandi (Lucidi) 1’34"470
7. Giulio Glorioso (Gloria) 1’34"471
8. Riccardo Cinti (Corbetta) 1’34"490
9. David Fumanelli (RP Motorsport) 1’34"550 (Spanish F3 spec car)

[Go_For_Pole]

Originally Posted by racecontrol

well... Cicognani news was on AutoSprint magazine this week...

Got the mag 24 cars are projected without Cram that at this moment is still doubtful. Quite impressive I would say. There is a chance that there will be a tyre change, from Michelin to Pirelli, that would negate some of the advantage that resident teams have over newcomers.

As for drivers, Piancastelli is mentioned likely to renew with Corbetta and Dillmann is likely to continue in the series. If I had to guess, I would say that Dillmann is very likely to complete a Ghinzani line up that would include Cicognani and Leo. Obviously him, Cicatelli, Nava and Zipoli (if his F2 drop out is a sign that he will return) have to be the favourites for the title

Also very interesting to see Formula Azzurra champion Liberati testing for Corbetta, he has a complete car plus engine as a prize for his Azzurra title so he will surely have a place on the grid. But will it be with Corbetta?

[gomick]

Changing tyre supplier would be a good move, great #'s for 09