2008 F3 EuroSeries calendar & off season chat

[strider]

F3ES calendar for next season:

April 13       Hockenheim  
May 4          Mugello     
June 1         Pau         
June 29        Norisring   
July 13        Zandvoort   
July 27        Nurburgring 
August 31      Brands Hatch
September 21   Barcelona   
October 5      Le Mans     
October 26     Hockenheim

No GP support races, but they're back on the bill at Pau, supporting the WTCC. Does that mean Formula International Master has been dropped completely, or just for that meeting?

Guess what? They're racing at Zandvoort three weeks before the provisional date for the Masters next year. An unfair advantage or what? Considering that and the Kumho tyre issue, my guess is very few other teams from BF3 and elsewhere will enter.

[META4]

Formula master also annunced they will race in Pau but still provisional calendar

http://www.formulamaster.net/ENG/ReadNews.asp?id=618

[nicorossi]

Originally Posted by strider

Guess what? They're racing at Zandvoort three weeks before the provisional date for the Masters next year. An unfair advantage or what? Considering that and the Kumho tyre issue, my guess is very few other teams from BF3 and elsewhere will enter.

F3 Masters is now at Zolder not Zandvoort, so no advantage will come from some practice 3 weeks beforehand on a completely different track! The tyre issue however will no doubt help the Euro boys ...

[JohnMiller]

Thought Zolder was '07 only?

[strider]

Originally Posted by JohnMiller

Thought Zolder was '07 only?

Yes, Zolder was a one-off solution for this year to help the noise problem Zandvoort has and it must have been an expensive one as BP dropped out as the event sponsors.

The WTCC is not going to Zandvoort next year, which may help and I'm sure the organisers will do everything possible to return the Masters to its rightful home.

[Daisy]

Since the extra race days the WTCC brought to Zandvoort were the main reason the Masters were relocated to Zandvoort, I don't see any reason why the wouldn't race at Zandvoort again.

[Alexandre]

Zaandvoort is very sandy

[BOSSman]

Originally Posted by Daisy

Since the extra race days the WTCC brought to Zandvoort were the main reason the Masters were relocated to Zandvoort, I don't see any reason why the wouldn't race at Zandvoort again.

BRL-Calendar 2008 (provisional, 10 November)
10-12 May 2008: Pinksterraces – Zandvoort
05-06 July 2008: DPP Festival – Assen
12-13 July 2008: Truck Grand Prix – Nürburgring
02-03 August 2008: Rizla Racing Day – Assen
09-10 August 2008: Masters of F3 – Zolder
13-14 September 2008: Truck Grand Prix – Zolder
04-05 October 2008: A1GP – Zandvoort
18-19 October 2008: Finaleraces – Zandvoort

Christian
EuroBOSS

[strider]

This time last the Masters was going to be at Zandvoort, but it ended up at Zolder. Let's hope the reverse happens in '08. I'm sure the Zandvoort organizers are negotiating as hard as they can, but they are not going to rock the boat by announcing anything now.

[Valker]

Mika Mäki, who won the Italian FR championship, will race in F3 Euroseries with Mücke motorsport in 2008.

[duke_toaster]

Originally Posted by Alexandre

Zaandvoort is very sandy

That's why it's called Zandvoort

[Daisy]

Originally Posted by Valker

Mika Mäki, who won the Italian FR championship, will race in F3 Euroseries with Mücke motorsport in 2008.

Very good news, although I'm not suprised. Mücke and Red Bull are long-time partners, and with Hartley moving to British F3, Mika Mäki was the best name they could get. Any news on his teammate. Stefano Coletti perhaps?

ASM, Hülkenberg and Vietoris seems a done deal. Other seats are probably for rookies Jon Lanchaster and Jules Bianchi. Manor has signed Toyota protégé Kazuya Oshima and Henki Waldschmidt is likely to join SG Formula.

Also, Signature will run with Volkswagen engines next year, together with RC Motorsport.

[runshaw]

ART (as it's now known) will run James Jakes, Nico Hulkenberg, Jules Bianchi and Jon Lancaster. Martin Plowman tested for Manor at Pembrey a few weeks ago but not sure what he's up to. Are Waldschmidt and Plowman being retained by the Toyota young driver programme?

[Valker]

Originally Posted by runshaw

Are Waldschmidt and Plowman being retained by the Toyota young driver programme?

http://www.formula3.cc/content/view/21597/504/

[runshaw]

No idea why they would have kept Henkie and Andrea over Martin. Martin has finished ahead of Henkie both years in Italy and finsihed ahead of Andrea as well this year. Remember Ben Clucas? 5th and rookie champion in his first year of Italian FR- dropped...Koboyashi- finished outside the top 6 in his first year- kept on by Toyota and is now Toyota's 3rd driver in F1. Ridiculous!

[Daisy]

I don't rate Plowman over Henkie. Henkie won a race in the Eurocup this year. Henkie has a lot of speed, but he was involved in a bit to many accidents (just like Stefano Coletti, quick but inconsistent). Plowman is more a steady driver, quick, always upfront, but he couldn't make the final step IMO. But this years grid in Formula Renault was very strong. For Caldarelli it was his first full year in Formula Renault, so it will be interesting to see what he can do next year.

But Plowman in Euro F3 would be a good addition to the grid. He's definately not slow and can be a serious contenter for the rookie championship. (Bianchi, Lancaster, Waldschmidt, Mäki ... sounds good to me.) I hope for him he sings up at Manor, because it's a good team.

ASM is now transformed to ART Grand Prix and will have Nico Hülkenberg, James Jakes, Jon Lancaster and Julies Bianchi in the line-up. So no Vietoris, I'm a bit suprised about that. Curious where he will end up.

This could be an awesome 2008 F3 year, with 2 great championships with very strong grids. Looking forward to it!

[Alex K]

It's their corporate approach I'd think runshaw... Anyway, it's one hell of a grid Daisy,and I am sure oe last, competitive chance for James Jakes, silent driver but with great experience and... I'd think next F3 ES champion, that would save his career...

Our British championship doesn't look bad compare it to ES? ;-)

[Last2LiftOff]

Originally Posted by Daisy

This could be an awesome 2008 F3 year, with 2 great championships with very strong grids. Looking forward to it!

And great to see VW out there Daisy, works good.

[Daisy]

Erik Janis has entered the Mercedes Junior program and will race for Mücke in 2008 (according to Italiaracing). Wouldn't be my first choice, but let's see he can prove me wrong.

Does anyone know how many cars Signature will enter in 2008?

[Alex K]

4 entries for RC Motorsport (Edoardo Mortara, Jean-Karl Vernay, Stefano Coletti, ?) and 4 entries for Signature Plus (Martin Plowman, Maximilian Gotz, Jens Klingmann (?), ?).

Like I said in BF3 topic, am bit of aware of Sam Bird joining VW.

[bella]

hmm, i read it as mortara and vernay staying with signature and coletti joining them...

[Alex K]

I may have swapped them... have I?!

[Last2LiftOff]

Signature jumping to Volkswagen like that, and how quickly VW got busy in F3, I find it really quite remarkable.

[Monkey Head]

Originally Posted by bella

hmm, i read it as mortara and vernay staying with signature and coletti joining them...

has he opposited Signature and RC's drivers?

[bella]

i think so, but my italian is largely un-motorsporty nowadays. it says in the middle that the bloke from vw hasn't confirmed their drivers, but signature have vernay and mortara and possibly coletti too.

link: http://www.italiaracing.net/notizia.asp?id=17367&cat=7

(wait, since when did italiaracing become a valid news source? )